September 2022 Scotland squad

[Gordopolis]

8 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

Then again, a run of poor results could change that narrative into the likes of "Dad's Army", "Clarke's too loyal, get the kids in" and all that gubbins.

7 hours ago, Streets of Raith said:

Absolutely agree that consistency is key with us. Cant see that particular narrative being a thing though; Hanley is the oldest outfielder at 30.

2 hours ago, Gordopolis said:

7 hours ago, Streets of Raith said:

Absolutely agree that consistency is key with us. Cant see that particular narrative being a thing though; Hanley is the oldest outfielder at 30.

You're making the mistake of assuming the people who would come out with that would actually check.

30 minutes ago, General dissaray said:

Absolutely no suprises in the Scotland squad,don't know if that is a good or a bad thing

On one hand it just shows how difficult it is to get into squad

On another hand maybe he is being a bit to loyal to a few older heads that might be past there best no extermination in midfield when there is good options

[Loominous]

9 hours ago, albagubrath said:

I thought it was a larger squad being announced for some reason so fairly happy with my guesses! Porteous for Cooper maybe a slight surprise, is Cooper injured? I thought Shankland would get in as 4th forward but Christie has been included there instead which, on checking, he has in the past too. Campbell and Ferguson ware two of the least experienced midfielders in the squad and Ferguson has yet to establish himself in Italy.

I'd say it's a good squad though, not much to really argue about.

I don't think he's injured because he was on the subs bench for Leeds against Brighton but I'm guessing he is still being built up so probably a bit soon to just throw him into an International squad especially if he hasn't built up a level of fitness (I don't think he had a full pre-season) and so maybe it's more beneficial for him to stay in Leeds and continue with them to be ready and build up his minutes from October.

[Craigieboy86]

Why not pick Lindsay of Preston North End

he was solid centre back than help team fight up six top play off of Championship this year

[General dissaray]

13 minutes ago, Craigieboy86 said:

Why not pick Lindsay of Preston North End

he was solid centre back than help team fight up six top play off of Championship this year

Cos he is a hammer thrower that can't pass or bring the ball out from the back

And he only got 15 games for them last year hardly Scotland material 

It would be a backwards step at least someone like Porteous is consistent and plays every week love or loath him

Can see him one day playing abroad in Italy maybe couldn't ever imagine Lindsay playing there 

Edited September 13, 2022 by General dissaray

[edinabear]

Not sure who else could really step in but with Robertson injured it's time to ditch this 541 and start playing players in the correct positions.

Gordon.

Patterson Hanley McKenna Tierney.

Mcginn mctominay McGregor

Armstrong Adams Fraser 

 

 

[2426255]

Looking forward to seeing toys being tossed out the pram on here when we start with 3atb and McTominay as a centre-back. #ClarkeOut

Edited September 13, 2022 by 2426255

[bdu98196]

Said it many times before if McTominay cant get into the Scotland midfield he should be benched. The idea that we persist with formations just to shoe-horn him in because or Man Utd #Barclays doesnt help us.

[Smokerson]

Craig Gordon aside there is not literally not one "old head past their best" in the squad. Mental how people just randomly churn out comments like this.

[Donathan]

16 minutes ago, bdu98196 said:

Said it many times before if McTominay cant get into the Scotland midfield he should be benched. The idea that we persist with formations just to shoe-horn him in because or Man Utd #Barclays doesnt help us.

Dinosaur type thinking. I assume you feel the same way about Robertson and Tierney?

 

I’m on record as saying that a) I want to see a 4-2-3-1 for this particular window and b) McTominay should get into our midfield on current form, but the idea that you can’t be flexible at international level is complete tosh. McTominay at RCB helped us win both the playoff matches in 2020 and he also played there in our excellent performance at Wembley in the euros, albeit he let us down in the playoff semi final defeat to Ukraine. 

[bdu98196]

5 minutes ago, Donathan said:

 McTominay at RCB helped us win both the playoff matches in 2020 and he also played there in our excellent performance at Wembley in the euros, albeit he let us down in the playoff semi final defeat to Ukraine. 

So basically a guy who's not a defender did ok against lesser level teams but got caught wanting at a higher level. Therefore should not be shoe-horned into a formation just because he is not good enough to play in his natural position due to better options.

Agree on current form he should start in midfield, but he is no RCB regardless of what Steve Clark tries to brainwash the fans into thinking.

[Donathan]

Just now, bdu98196 said:

So basically a guy who's not a defender did ok against lesser level teams but got caught wanting at a higher level. Therefore should not be shoe-horned into a formation just because he is not good enough to play in his natural position due to better options.

Agree on current form he should start in midfield, but he is no RCB regardless of what Steve Clark tries to brainwash the fans into thinking.

I think the emergence of John Souttar (albeit injured atm) definitely changes the thinking a little bit at RCB but McTominay is the next best option we have for the position which means he will be surely be starting there assuming we stick with the back three. Hendry makes all the same mistakes as McTominay but is less good going forward. 

[2426255]

Simply put it's a risk/reward scenario.

Having a higher number of centre-backs (3) provides a counterweight to the defensive shortcomings of playing a midfielder and full back as central defenders, it also allows us to progress the ball from defence. We take the benefit of Tierney and McTominay helping us to start attacks/break the press and in exchange we must also accept we will lose some goals due to the weakness of playing McTominay and Tierney as centre-backs.

I think think that is an acceptable trade personally (particularly when our alternative central defensive options are considered) and has been a net positive. There isn't a perfect solution in my opinion, but I've always liked this particular one.

Edited September 14, 2022 by 2426255

[HalfCutNinja]

Scotland play 3 at the back because we don't have any good central defenders. That hasn't changed, so neither will the formation.

McTominay is a quality player and a top lad. Absolute nailed on starter. He's fine at the back, quite possibly the best option we have even if everyone is fit. He's also probably our best central midfielder.

[Donathan]

33 minutes ago, HalfCutNinja said:

Scotland play 3 at the back because we don't have any good central defenders. That hasn't changed, so neither will the formation.

McTominay is a quality player and a top lad. Absolute nailed on starter. He's fine at the back, quite possibly the best option we have even if everyone is fit. He's also probably our best central midfielder.

 

 

This is nonsense.

 

Three at the back was brought in as the solution for the Tierney/Robertson dilemma. Prior to 2020, there were a lot of occasions when at least one of them (Tierney more often than not) was unavailable so there was no dilemma to be had. Under Strachan, the dilemma was solved by Tierney playing right back, but Clarke found a better solution with Tierney on the left side of a back three and Robertson as a left wing back.

 

Grant Hanley, John Souttar, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper and Jack Hendry are all decent options at CB and you could easily make a valid CB pairing out of them in a back four.

[General dissaray]

1 hour ago, Smokerson said:

Craig Gordon aside there is not literally not one "old head past their best" in the squad. Mental how people just randomly churn out comments like this.

Kenny McLean was the one that I was specifically thinking about who is 30 we could used his space to get a look at Henderson 

[Donathan]

2 minutes ago, General dissaray said:

Kenny McLean was the one that I was specifically thinking about who is 30 we could used his space to get a look at Henderson 

McLean is a favourite of Clarke's. He's always in the squad when healthy and never a million miles away from a start.

 

To be honest, it's a bit disappointing to me that we are only taking 25 players for a triple header. I'd be bringing along quite a few more, although we know in the past Clarke has brought unofficial squad members along to train with the squad, acclimate them into the camp and be readily available as emergency cover, so maybe that's happening again this time.

[2426255]

21 minutes ago, Donathan said:

Grant Hanley, John Souttar, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper and Jack Hendry are all decent options at CB and you could easily make a valid CB pairing out of them in a back four.

John Souttar, Jack Hendry and maybe a lesser extent Grant Hanley weren't part of the picture when Steve Clarke changed his system in 2020. At that time we used Liam Cooper, Scott McKenna, Declan Gallagher, Andy Considine and I think Ryan Porteous which probably wouldn't look too handy as part of a back-4.

Prior to that you can add Mikey Devlin, Stuart Findlay and Charlie Mulgrew to the list of centre-backs that we were using when Steve Clarke first took over. I think defensive shortcomings played a part in the decision making process personally.

I agree our options there are improved but at the time the change was made they were quite poor.

Edited September 14, 2022 by 2426255

[HalfCutNinja]

21 minutes ago, Donathan said:

 

 

This is nonsense.

 

Three at the back was brought in as the solution for the Tierney/Robertson dilemma. Prior to 2020, there were a lot of occasions when at least one of them (Tierney more often than not) was unavailable so there was no dilemma to be had. Under Strachan, the dilemma was solved by Tierney playing right back, but Clarke found a better solution with Tierney on the left side of a back three and Robertson as a left wing back.

 

Grant Hanley, John Souttar, Scott McKenna, Liam Cooper and Jack Hendry are all decent options at CB and you could easily make a valid CB pairing out of them in a back four.

You don't know that.

No they're not, they're all shit. We don't have one single good CB. Not one. We have championship level CBs. This has been the case for ten years. If you're CBs are shit play three instead of two. It isn't rocket science.

You could absolutely make a CB pairing out of them. We could make half a dozen. But they'd all be shit and get ripped apart by any decent team.

 

[HalfCutNinja]

5 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

John Souttar, Jack Hendry and maybe a lesser extent Grant Hanley weren't part of the picture when Steve Clarke changed his system in 2020. At that time we used Liam Cooper, Scott McKenna, Declan Gallagher, Andy Considine and I think Ryan Porteous which probably wouldn't look to handy as part of a back-4.

Prior to that you can add Mikey Devlin, Stuart Findlay and Charlie Mulgrew to the list of centre-backs that we were using when Steve Clarke first took over. I think defensive shortcomings played a part in the decision making process personally.

I agree our options there are improved but at the time the change was made they were quite poor.

They still are. Amongst all the names mentioned in those two posts there isn't one good international level CB. Not one. Just a Johnny Evans or whatever. We don't have that.

 

 

[Donathan]

1 minute ago, HalfCutNinja said:

You don't know that.

No they're not, they're all shit. We don't have one single good CB. Not one. We have championship level CBs. This has been the case for ten years. If you're CBs are shit play three instead of two. It isn't rocket science.

You could absolutely make a CB pairing out of them. We could make half a dozen. But they'd all be shit and get ripped apart by any decent team.

 

Also, more often than not we don’t play three CBs at all. We play one CB, an out of position LB and an out of position CM.