Scotland squad for Next month

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

Well, it was going to happen sooner or leighter. 

[Honest_Ally]

Good riddance, I hope he never gets picked again.

[List_of_Jericho]

Has Liam Cooper ruled himself out of Scotland duty?

Captaining Leeds who have started the season well, surely worth having in as another centre back option?

[Savage Henry]

33 minutes ago, forameus said:

While you're never going to be able to prove it either way, that really stinks.  Already publicly liking social media posts, and last week McLeish saying he wasn't returning calls, very much looks like he's taking the huff.

If so, I'm inclined to say get him to f**k, at least for the time-being.  He's probably our strongest forward, but the difference isn't so massive that we should just pander to someone.  Are we seeing Steven Fletcher Part Deux?

The fact that he liked a tweet that said he shouldn't bother if McLeish isn't going to pick him (or words very much to that effect) suggests this might be it for the Thumb in a Scotland shirt.  He's comfortably Scotland's most (only?) reliable goalscorer. Oh well.  Here's hoping he doesn't get a free pass.  Given Matt Phillips hasn't played in three weeks, I'm not sure who the obvious replacement would be.

[TheScarf]

Watching him yesterday it looks like he's put a bit of timber on tbf.

[FullTimePint]

The way he has publicly vented about McLeish, and now pulled out of a squad for nonsense reasons, i wouldn't complain if Griffiths isn't involved again.

If we ever want to be able to compete back at the top level, we need a squad fully invested in trying to qualify, all committed and backing each other, and fully engaged in the managers plans. I don't think Griffiths will ever be that guy.

 

[Moo]

If he had any brains which he clearly doesn’t then he would make himself available for the Israel game then miss the Portugal game. I don’t think many would be annoyed at that although some may still be.

It’s just so frustrating as he’s our most naturally gifted goal scorer and he could still play a major role from the bench if not selected in the starting eleven.

[MONKMAN]

5 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

 I'm not sure who the obvious replacement would be.

[NorthernLights]

"Leigh Griffiths" and "pulling out", not two things I'd expect to see together.

[Reid]

Has Liam Cooper ruled himself out of Scotland duty?
Captaining Leeds who have started the season well, surely worth having in as another centre back option?

Similar to Lindsay, if he was right-sided he’d probably be in the squad. He’s got Tierney, Mulgrew and McKenna ahead of him atm.

[Gordopolis]

Surprised by the Griffiths thing tbh. Despite the stupid tweet stuff, he was on the radio recently (after the tweet thing) being very humble and respectful to 'Mr McLeish' and trying to put the kick in the teeth thing in a positive context - which it was in before journos took it out of context. Sounded like he really valued his Scotland place.

 

We simply dont have another striker like him at the moment.

 

Ffs we love a shambles, us.

 

 

 

 

[The new Kia Ceed]

Leaving aside the fact the Griffiths is a fanny, he's been treated terribly by Strachan and McLeish.     The fact is he's our best striker and contributes well from all set pieces and has scored 4 goals in his last 6 games for Scotland.     There's a reason why Naismith and Phillips doesn't play as the number 9 for their club teams and it's because they're not very good at it.     Given our lack of decent strikers Leigh Griffiths should be an absolute shoe-in to start.      Terrible management from Alex McLeish.   

[livijay]

13 minutes ago, The new Kia Ceed said:

Leaving aside the fact the Griffiths is a fanny, he's been treated terribly by Strachan and McLeish.     The fact is he's our best striker and contributes well from all set pieces and has scored 4 goals in his last 6 games for Scotland.     There's a reason why Naismith and Phillips doesn't play as the number 9 for their club teams and it's because they're not very good at it.     Given our lack of decent strikers Leigh Griffiths should be an absolute shoe-in to start.      Terrible management from Alex McLeish.   

In what way? 

In the games McLeish has been in charge, Griffiths either wasn't available (trip to South America) or wasn't getting a game at Celtic.  Naismith on the other hand has been banging them in at club level.  Naismith got his chance and scored.  Can't see what McLeish has done wrong here. 

[Estragon]

1 hour ago, TheScarf said:

Watching him yesterday it looks like he's put a bit of timber on tbf.

I thought that when he was at Rugby Park last month.  Although I'd still rather have a fat Leigh Griffiths than a number of other candidates.

Can't help but feel this is a blow.

[AyrTroopMajor]

Well well well...

[forameus]

35 minutes ago, Gordopolis said:

Surprised by the Griffiths thing tbh. Despite the stupid tweet stuff, he was on the radio recently (after the tweet thing) being very humble and respectful to 'Mr McLeish' and trying to put the kick in the teeth thing in a positive context - which it was in before journos took it out of context. Sounded like he really valued his Scotland place.

We simply dont have another striker like him at the moment.

Ffs we love a shambles, us.

It's almost like he's a bit thick, and thinks that by talking nice in public, it doesn't really matter what he does in social media or anything like that.

I expect he does value his place to be honest.  But it's just another continuation of people treating this Nations League like a joke.  These are going to be the most important games we've played in decades, and a win on Thursday could well put us in a tremendous position for getting into the playoffs.  If this was a friendly, fine, but I'd expect someone like Griffiths - who everyone always says pure loves his fitbaw - to be champing at the bit to get involved.  If McLeish and his team thinks he's not fit enough, then he won't play.  Is he going to be hitting the gym on Thursday night instead?  What difference does sitting on the bench, with the chance of getting on against a side that's around our level, really make?

33 minutes ago, The new Kia Ceed said:

Leaving aside the fact the Griffiths is a fanny, he's been treated terribly by Strachan and McLeish.     The fact is he's our best striker and contributes well from all set pieces and has scored 4 goals in his last 6 games for Scotland.     There's a reason why Naismith and Phillips doesn't play as the number 9 for their club teams and it's because they're not very good at it.     Given our lack of decent strikers Leigh Griffiths should be an absolute shoe-in to start.      Terrible management from Alex McLeish.   

Terrible management from McLeish will be if there's no comeuppance for this.  We're not talking about a shining talisman in the mould of the best players in the World, we're talking about someone who isn't in particularly good form, and scored a couple of very good free-kicks in a high profile game.  He's the best out-and-out forward we have, but the difference isn't so great that we should just let him pick and choose when to play.

McLeish has a chance here to pay down a marker and show that he's not going to cave in.  But he will likely shite it, and once LG fancies playing again he'll be back in.

[Guest]

Do we actually have any strikers in the squad apart from Oli McBurnie ?

It's surely a bit of a stretch to call Johnny Russell and Naismith strikers, wingers or attacking midfielders Yes, but not really strikers.

That just more or less confirms McLeish's whole outlook, a squad with 10 midfielders and 1 striker and people moaned at Levein...................

[craigkillie]

Naismith and Russell are both forwards, and both of them have played centrally at various points in their career. The pair of them linked up very nicely in that role against Albania. Obviously we might set up a bit differently against Israel, but both of them showed that both of them were very capable in that position.

McLeish originally called up Griffiths, so even if we take your weird limited definition of what a striker is, he picked two of them in his squad.

I'm not sure which striking options you think are being overlooked here. It's clear that striker is our biggest problem position, which is why (and I say this as a fan of both) mediocre options like Naismith and Russell are being picked there in the first place. Beyond the current squad, you're looking at guys like Chris Martin and Jordan Rhodes who are both playing semi-regularly in the Championship and not scoring much or guys like Fraser Hornby, Oli Shaw and Eamonn Brophy in the U21s who are nowhere near ready. The only Scottish strikers with 3 or more goals in the Premiership are Naismith, Brophy (and two of his were penalties) and Greg Stewart.

[Craig McCulloch Burley]

Just now, craigkillie said:

Naismith and Russell are both forwards, and both of them have played centrally at various points in their career. The pair of them linked up very nicely in that role against Albania. Obviously we might set up a bit differently against Israel, but both of them showed that both of them were very capable in that position.

McLeish originally called up Griffiths, so even if we take your weird limited definition of what a striker is, he picked two of them in his squad.

I'm not sure which striking options you think are being overlooked here. It's clear that striker is our biggest problem position, which is why (and I say this as a fan of both) mediocre options like Naismith and Russell are being picked there in the first place. Beyond the current squad, you're looking at guys like Chris Martin and Jordan Rhodes who are both playing semi-regularly in the Championship and not scoring much or guys like Fraser Hornby, Oli Shaw and Eamonn Brophy in the U21s who are nowhere near ready. The only Scottish strikers with 3 or more goals in the Premiership are Naismith, Brophy (and two of his were penalties) and Greg Stewart.

Shankland?

[cowboy]

anyone but Jason fucking cummings