Super_Scotlandfan

we've got an 85% chance of making the playoffs if we finish 2nd according to these guys...they also give us a 25% chance of getting to the World Cup!

Burke didn't look arsed before he was hooked at half time. Might have been carrying an injury but still...

Watched two of Malaga B's play off games, and tried to watch their main season highlights when I could (incredibly sad...I know). He does seem very impressive technically, his touch and vision look like his best assests. I'm not sure if he'll end up being an out and out goal scorer, he tends to play behind the striker/wider. Does have a good shot on him though. It's hard to tell what level he was playing at...all the Malaga B players were comfortable on the ball, played good football though. And there were one or two players that actually looked better than Harper. Hopefully this step up to the first team goes well. Would be exciting to see a Scottish player in la liga. Let's wait and see though...

https://www.facebook.com/uniladfootball/videos/1623742560971918/?video_source=pages_finch_thumbnail_video replay of the game here. Seems unilad are streaming all the games live too.

Really? I thought he looked poor. Gave the ball away more than anyone else. And two of his mistakes led to Brazil opportunities. Sammut looked the much tidier player. Burke was head and shoulders above the rest. Sammut and Taylor behind him. The two centre backs did well after two early mistakes. Hopefully they go through so we see more of them all.

According to flashscores it's on Bet365. Should just need a funded account.

Kim Little out with a ACL injury. Genuine world class player, probably more important to the women's team than Bale is to Wales. Reckon they'll really struggle now unfortunately.

Bit of a strange one this. Played 38 times for the B team last season as a 19-20 year old...had good reports etc. Looked like he would start this season in the first team but he was farmed out to a mid table team in the top league. Started getting impressive reports from Setubal around December time. Managed to watch the cup game against Sporting...he was by far Setubal's best player, seemed to be playing as a centre midfielder rather than an attacking one. Sporting then had a falling out with Setubal (apparently because Setubal played Sporting loan players against them in a cup tie) and took Gauld back in January. Gauld was then in limbo for a month, Sporting wanted to loan him to Chaves (another mid table top league club) but the Portuguese league ruled against it. He was then linked with Young Boys in Switzerland but media reports indicated that Gauld didn't want to go and instead wanted to stay at Sporting to force his way into the first team. Since then he's been in the first team bench once (?) and didn't come on. Their manager clearly doesn't fancy him. Instead he's played a handful of games for the B team since March time. I haven't read of any reports of him impressing and watched a game where he was anonymous. I think there's a bit of both involved here. Gauld hasn't impressed the Sporting staff enough and I'm sure Gauld isn't happy after being mucked around. Wouldn't surprise me if he leaves and does well at another decent level club and get multiple Scotland caps, he's definitely got something. But you get the feeling he'll never turn into the player we wanted him to when he was at Dundee United.

Interesting contrast between the developments of John Fleck and the guy he plays centre mid with at Sheffield United. John Coutts released by Aberdeen at 16, played for Cove Rangers until he was 20 before getting his 'big' move down to England. To be fair to Fleck it looks like he's going to get player of the year at his club. Apparently he's had 18 assists this season. Scored this goal last night too. Can't be ahead of the likes of Shinnie and McLean for getting in the squad though.

Yeah, played centre back all season. Apparently he's played more minutes than any other player in the top 4 divisions.

Didn't expect us to but we genuinely played well...0-0 would have been a horrible reflection on the game. Armstrong clearly MOTM, gives us that extra drive and precision we've been missing in midfield. And Tierney was impressive at right back, can't believe he's 19. We can improve personnel wise too, Cairney is a better player than Morrison and Fraser than Forrest. Those two in for the England game please Gordon. I'd like him to persist with Griffiths too, hopefully he gets some starts and goals in the run in.

Murray Wallace last ditch block from earlier today. Nice to see a Scottish centre back get a little praise at a decent level. Would be good to see Wallace or Lindsay make the squad next time out.

Scored a hat-trick for Malaga B today. Think that's something like 8 goals in 8 games now? He's probably playing at a level around English Non-league, Scottish league 1/2 though. But to be fair Malaga B seem to be a class above their opposition, 10 points ahead and a goal difference of +50. Seems like there's opportunity to move up, a few of the guys around Harper's age moved played a decent amount for the B team moving to the full team. Does seem promising.

Btw, I'm quoting you but not having a go. Just feel it's relevant to my post...it's more of a response to stuff I've read on the thread and the board elsewhere. I understand the thinking that the 'Scottishness' of the squad might be slightly diluted but no country on earth has a 100% born and bred squad with family lineage going back generations. It would be nice to have a team of James McFaddens but we'd never field a full strength team without utilizing the fact that hundreds of thousands of Scots have moved to another country. The world is becoming more international, there's millions of families living outside their country of birth - far more than say 50 years ago. I'd say that the granny rule and 5 year residency is pretty fair considering this. Scots are spreading their seed everywhere. It just happens that the majority of ex-pats do this in England (over 600 000 live there)...and because it's England our fans get excessive reservations about their sons/grandsons playing for us. I'm also not worried that potential players have played for another country at youth levels - I don't feel that it's fair to ask someone (who may have dual or even triple+ nationality in footballing terms) make a life decision at this age. It feels right that the decision is made at competitive senior level. Also, these eligible players have the right to turn us down. If these players don't feel that they have enough of a connection to us they say no. And the 'oh, but Scotland wouldn't have been his first choice' thing annoys me too. I don't see why the player in question can't play at his full ability and passion for us too - and if he doesn't don't call him up again. I like to use the analogy that if you were told/or you knew that your grandfather was say Faroese (realise they are about 10 places below us in the world rankings now!!) or Eritrian or whatever you'd feel a connection to that country. You're still born and bred Scottish but that family link is still there. If you weren't being looked at to be called up for Scotland i'd say you'd take the opportunity to play for a country that you've got a strong connection to and passionately represent them. I don't see how these English born players aren't doing the same for us.

Ryan Gauld played 90mins today in the cup for Vitoria. They won 2-0 against a lower division team.

He was called up by the country of his birth. Why would he have turned it down? He can be as committed as he was for them as he can be for Scotland. I don't see why that wouldn't be possible. I don't believe capping a player completely eligible would cheapen the shirt. If players are eligible, give their all for the shirt and improve the squad then we need to call them up. Anyway, this thread should be about trying different players at centre back, not eligibility! Hopefully it'll get back to that... Kingsley at centre back seems a good shout, especially as we're well covered at left back. Never seen him play there though, definitely something that should be tried out in a friendly unless he's moved into the middle for Swansea.

Open your mind. Caulker is as eligible to play for Scotland as anyone else in the squad. If he feels his Scottish heritage is enough to represent us with 100% commitment and effort then who is anyone to question him. If not then sack him off - all i'm saying is that he should be considered.

Surely it’s time to look at other options at centre back - but is there anything better out there? Other than Hanley, Berra and Martin who else is out there? All three have proven to be positionally unaware,capable of mistakes and lacking under pressure. Surely we should be looking to the future/other options if we want to qualify for a major championships. People go on about Hanley being young but he’s shown zero improvement in the last 3 or 4 years and can’t get a start for a championship team. Guys in the Scottish Prem - Mark Reynolds, Danny Wilson aren’t good enough, not sure if there’s anything else. Can we stick in John Souttar already? He definitely has the potential. An interesting option could be Steven Caulker at QPR - if he’s called up and is fully committed, he could be the answer. Anyone know if we’ve made any moves for him recently? A shorter term option could be Darren Fletcher at centre back. He’s got nowhere near the energy and penetration you used to have in midfield. He’s unbelievably committed, intelligent, composed and at 32 he could prolong his career playing here. We need to change something at centre back, hopefully Gordon/a new manager has the foresight to do this.

Great goal too http://twitter.com/nffc_mainstand/status/681927049490075649/video/1

Yeah Ian Black and Kenny Miller are good shouts...nowhere near the strength of the Glasgow team though. Think Danny Wilson was born and raised Livingston.

Iceland's small population and impressive recent form makes me wonder if we could have produced a similar performance with the same population. Saw a few on here commenting if we should be looking at their system, asking how this small population has produced such a successful team. Iceland has a population of 325,000. For ease of comparison I've looked at the players from similarly populated cities; Glasgow (596,000) Edinburgh (487,000) and Aberdeen (220,000). Glasgow's team: (includes McGeady and McCarthy cos they're Glaswegian...) Marshall Hutton Greer Mulgrew Robertson Anya Dorrans McCarthy McGeady McCormack Snodgrass Edinburgh's team: (missing a few...don't know enough Edinburgh born players) Gordon Wallace Berra ? Whittaker ? Fletcher Murray Davidson Stefan Scougall ? Griffiths Aberdeen's team; (Maloney qualifies as he moved to cults when he was a toddler) Esson Ryan Jack Anderson Souttar Greame Shinnie Ryan Fraser Paul Coutts Ian Vigurs Andy Shinnie Gauld Maloney I'd say, on the basis of this, if we had a population around 400k we could produce a team just as good as Iceland's it's just that they've had a longer time with a quality coach and have a talisman like gylfi Sigurdsson. Agree on the teams?