Ukraine v Scotland (27/9/22)

[2426255]

4 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

To my knowledge, and I’m sure Celtic confirmed this despite the Record’s best efforts, there has never been a single bid for him therefore you can’t blame him for being stuck up here as opportunities never came his way.

Leicester bid £25 Million for him when Brendan Rodgers first moved there I think.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

6 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

Leicester bid £25 Million for him when Brendan Rodgers first moved there I think.

Celtic confirmed they never received any bids. Leicester enquired and were given no encouragement so McGregor never had the chance to even consider a move.

[AJF]

8 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

Leicester bid £25 Million for him when Brendan Rodgers first moved there I think.

If they had then he'd have been away. Celtic aren't turning that down.

[Gaz]

18 minutes ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

It’s difficult to blame McGregor though tbh. His only opportunity to play down south was at Notts County when he was very young and interestingly formed a strong midfield partnership with Jack Grealish.

He could have moved to Leicester in Summer 2021 but chose to stay at Celtic where he can develop by thumping St Johnstone again and again.

EDIT: On reading the above replies it seems to suggest a move wasn't as possible as I had believed it was at the time.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Gaz

[Bairnardo]

McGregor would do fine in the EPL. Not top 6 standard but he'd get a game and be well liked by the fans for probably the majority of clubs in that league IMO. 

 

He won't now, but he still could. Probably would have to run down his deal and go for free right enough. 

[Skyline Drifter]

42 minutes ago, KingRocketman II said:

Ukraine had their best chance in the first 10 mins where the captain (I think) blazed it over the bar with only a scrambling Gordon to beat. Then the above VAR/1-on-1 which looked onside. At about 35 mins they had a free header that the guy put past the post, unchallenged, from close range. Then about the 60th min mark there was a McFadden-Italy-esque slide in (less of a stretch in this case) but he caught it on the bounce and put it over when easier to hit the target and probably score. Then maybe about the 80th minute a volley of a dropping ball inside the penalty area that whisked past Gordon's left hand post.

Gordon had two good saves that I have not included (in addition to the VAR one on one chance) but he is of a standard you would expect him to make them or would have been disappointed if he hadn't, and have therefore not included those as Ukraine gilt edged. 

Scotland's 2 gilt edged were Adams in first minute and then Jack leaning back putting over the bar. 

So I would say 5:2 in terms of gilt edged chances in Ukraine's favour. 

So, basically you count any old half chance as 'gilt edged' then?

I think maybe the issue here is one of comprehension of 'gilt edged'. Jack's chance wasnt even close to being one. Nor is a volley from the edge of the box nor a shot from outside it irrespective of how good Craig Gordon's save from it was.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Skyline Drifter

[2426255]

Quote

There was an approach for Callum this week. We knew about it and there’s no more to it. Am I annoyed at the timing of it? No, it’s natural during the window. We made it pretty clear that we wanted Callum to stay. He’s an important player here. We want him to continue in the same vein as the last two or three seasons.

Neil Lennon

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/celtic-offer-callum-mcgregor-new-deal-after-rejecting-leicester-bid-1411099

The point is that he was wanted by an EPL club and Celtic wanted to keep him and McGregor didn't push to move. To say opportunites haven't come his way is inaccurate and that's the point I was trying to make. @Grangemouth Bairn

Edited September 28, 2022 by 2426255

[Grangemouth Bairn]

5 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/celtic-offer-callum-mcgregor-new-deal-after-rejecting-leicester-bid-1411099

The point is that he was wanted by an EPL club and Celtic wanted to keep him and McGregor didn't push to move.

Clubs enquire about hundreds of players every season in modern football. If they really want a player they’ll make a bid to test a clubs resolve.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Grangemouth Bairn

[2426255]

1 minute ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

Clubs enquire about hundreds of players every season in modern football. If they really want a player they’ll make a bud to test a clubs resolve.

No-one put a gun to his head to sign a new contract. If he wanted to play in the EPL he would have done so. End of story.

Edited September 28, 2022 by 2426255

[carpetmonster]

8 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

McGregor would do fine in the EPL. Not top 6 standard but he'd get a game and be well liked by the fans for probably the majority of clubs in that league IMO. 

 

 

Agreed. James McArthur, but better player, kinda scenario. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

4 minutes ago, 2426255 said:

No-one put a gun to his head to sign a new contract. If he wanted to play in the EPL he would have done so. End of story.

I get your point but disagree - you can’t move if nobody bids for you. And there was no concrete bid.

ps. I’m not debating whether he had the ability to play in a top 5 league or not btw.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Grangemouth Bairn

[2426255]

Just now, Grangemouth Bairn said:

I get your point but disagree - you can’t move if nobody bids for you. And there was no concrete bid.

fair enough. just agree to disagree then.

[HK Hibee]

16 hours ago, Donathan said:

Staying up will be a very tall order but I’m looking forward to 6 games against top class sides. It’ll certainly benefit our young squad. 

This. Let’s be honest the “prize” for us all is not the Nations League but ability to plat in major finals and get out of the group stage. The better opposition this young team play against the better chance we have go qualifying and getting out of the group stage.  

[Iain]

8 hours ago, kingjoey said:

This may have been covered earlier in the thread, but I am/was completely puzzled by the award of possession to Ukraine after the referee changed his mind about our "penalty". The ball hit the defender's head and went out of play for a corner to Scotland before the referee blew for the penalty. How the hell can it be a drop ball to Ukraine? @craigkillie?

As I understand it...

- The award of the penalty means play is deemed to have ended when the offence was committed

- The revocation of the penalty means play has to start with a drop ball

- All drop balls in the penalty area are awarded to the goalkeeper regardless of who had possession

The absurdity of it is that the referee is looking at VAR, can see it's supposed to be a corner and, despite VAR being there to ensure correct decisions, he isn't allowed to award one.

[HK Hibee]

2 hours ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

Nows a perfect time for him to exit to. He is free to speak to clubs at end of 2022 and leave for free next summer so would be able to negotiate a great deal for himself as his stock will be high just now.

Hopefully he follows the path of guys like Hickey, Doig and Ferguson and moves to a European league initially.

Will be sad for Hibs but think you are right that European football is best for him 

 

btw. How good is it that European clubs want our young talent?

[KingRocketman II]

35 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

So, basically you count any old half chance as 'gilt edged' then?

I think maybe the issue here is one of comprehension of 'gilt edged'. Jack's chance wasnt even close to being one. Nor is a volley from the edge of the box nor a shot from outside it irrespective of how good Craig Gordon's save from it was.

I don't. It is completely the opposite of what I posted. 

I didn't mention anything re any gilt edged chance being from edge of the box. Nor did I include anything Gordon saved as gilt edged.

Both Maloney and McCann on the highlights show and earlier McFadden referred to Jack's chance as a great opportunity. 

But never mind as you haven't read or understood my post and seem quite fixated for some bizarre reason on Ukraine having only one good chance 

 

[Stylish Kid]

47 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

So, basically you count any old half chance as 'gilt edged' then?

I think maybe the issue here is one of comprehension of 'gilt edged'. Jack's chance wasnt even close to being one. Nor is a volley from the edge of the box nor a shot from outside it irrespective of how good Craig Gordon's save from it was.

Not a fun day to talk about gilts TBH 

[Jambomo]

1 hour ago, Grangemouth Bairn said:

It’s difficult to blame McGregor though tbh. His only opportunity to play down south was at Notts County when he was very young and interestingly formed a strong midfield partnership with Jack Grealish. 
 

To my knowledge, and I’m sure Celtic confirmed this despite the Record’s best efforts, there has never been a single bid for him therefore you can’t blame him for being stuck up here as opportunities never came his way.

I agree with your point about it being interesting to see how well he’d have done in a top 5 league.

Fair enough, I am really surprised he hasn’t had any opportunities. England isn’t usually slow at snapping up good Scottish players.

[Grangemouth Bairn]

9 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

Fair enough, I am really surprised he hasn’t had any opportunities. England isn’t usually slow at snapping up good Scottish players.

Yes, but they are also rich therefore can pick who they want to a degree. Look at 2019 for example. Leicester enquired about McGregor however didn’t follow up with a bid and decided to buy Tielemans instead.

Because they were so rich (at that time) they were able to balance out all options and bought the player, who imo, is a much better player and also 4 years younger.

[KingRocketman II]

8 minutes ago, Jambomo said:

Fair enough, I am really surprised he hasn’t had any opportunities. England isn’t usually slow at snapping up good Scottish players.

surprisingly (for me anyway), I read that 45% of the squad (inc call-ups) were Scottish Premiership players (matching the same percentage for English Premier League).

2 players from Championship (McLean and Dykes - I think!) and two from overseas (Hendry and Doig). 

Would be good to see more from overseas (and would have added to that tally last season with Hickey), and I suppose Gauld and Morgan from time to time have a case to make. As does Russell I suppose.

I do though find it warming that more SP players are included at the expense of English Championship players and I think a lot of that is down to Clarke who appreciates the game throughout the whole league up here rather than say Strachan (who has had a battering on this section of late) who was very southern/Championship centric  - until he eventually bowed to pressure to play in-form Celtic players.