Diamond Scot

I said to my mate at the game on Monday that if we had somebody 1 on 1 with the gk with a min to go to win who would be the last player on the pitch you would want it to be. I said Robertson. Its without question the area of his game that he could improve the most however its not part of his main role. I actually dont think the issue is as much technique as it is compusure. My mates answer was Dkyes which is more of a worry lol

Im not sure you can say a defender isnt world class because he isnt good at shooting. As others have said, Robertson has played for one of the top 10 teams in Europe / the world for several years now, winning a league title and a european cup. His assist stats are off the chart and has been part of a very good side. You need to judge a player on his job. You wouldnt say Ronaldo and Messi arent world class because they cant tackle that well. I think what we have in the squad now is several players who are established as main players in a top league, Robertson, Tierney, McTomminay. Others who are in and about that level, Hanley, Cooper, Armstrong, Adams and then the rest made up of good dependable players and young prospects. The main thing for me is the emergence of better techinical players.

To be clear from the start, the Denmark game was the best performance ive seen from a Scotland side in the last 20 years. This came on the back of good wins against Moldova and Faroes away (the kind of games we historically have messed up) Moldova and Isreal at home and Austria away (the kind of result thats been rare in recent years). However reading some of the other threads I think its important to not get carried away with either where we are at or indeed what we have done. The results above are what we have been screaming out for in the last 20 years. Beating the minnows home and away and then beating a decent side in Austria away from home. As much as we were great against Denmark on Monday, they had nothing to play for (I dont think for a minute teams really care about 100% records). They are nice but I cant see a player putting his body on the line when they have already qualified. The play offs will be hard, the unseeded teams are tough games and the final if we get there could be very hard. Its one thing beating a good team when they have nothing to play for. Its another when they have as much to play for as us. That said im more positive about where the team are at now than anytime in my life, im actually ok if we dont make it to the world cup because I can finally see progress. Id accept getting to all the euros from this point onwards and maybe even getting out the group stages.

Odonnell will be good enough until there are better players. That is the system Clarke has put in place. He has a very settled squad. He doesnt tend to bring in the flavour of the month. You earn your place in the squad, then try to get in the team. Paterson has moved ahead of Palmer and now Odonnell. Its now up to Odonnell to keep himself agead of Ralston, Ramsey and Hickey. I get the impression Clarke is very honest and fair with players. There is no launching them out the squad or the team. Just a natural progression that can be reversed with better form etc. We now have a situation where I think most players would accept not being in the starting line up for any particular game because they trust the manager, have a real team spirit and can also see the other players are performing.

The France wins were probably our best results since 98 however if we are honest both were backs to the wall performances where we sneaked a goal. Holland play off win we actually played well however Ukraine and last night are the best performances I can remember where we totally outplayed and outclassed a team ranked considerably higher than us. The 1st half in particular last night was mind blowing "this isnt Scotland" type stuff. The one thing I hope we learn from last night is that we fair much better when we are brave on the ball and dont just hit it long when under pressure. We did this for the 1st 20 odd mins in the 2nd half and it made things very difficult for ourselves which required some very good last ditch defending. Once we started passing again, picking when to play it in behind etc we started to create chances again, looked much more comfortable and finally good the counter attack 2nd goal. Billy Gilmour changes how we play. He dictates our style and is so impressive. Everyone played well last night but I thought Adams was flawless. Lead the line, hold up play was fantastic, linked etc and took his goal well.

It could be argued that neither Patterson or Gilmours careers have gone from strength to strength. Both have cemented their place in the Scotland team but cant get a sniff at club level. Hickey on the other hand has cemented his place at club level to the extent that its reported that the top sides in the league are looking at him. None of this is to do with Covid though. Just an observation that Hickeys choices to date have served him well.

I think Gilmour will chip in with some goals over his Scotland career. I think he will probably start taking the shooting free kicks soon. I doubt Robertson will though. He doesnt score for Liverpool and you can tell he isnt somebody who naturally feels comfortable or confident shooting. How many times recently has he had the ball on his left foot and either blasted it high or did a really tame side footed shot. Patterson seems to have more of an eye for a goal. Not neccesarily based on his record but he just seems more able to seek out the positions and looks a more natural finisher. McTom would get more if he played a box to box I think.

We dont tend to get goals from other areas though. Patterson on Fri night very much the exception. Robertson is horrible at shooting, our centre backs dont have a great record from set pieces, even at club level, Gilmour has the technique to get goals but hasnt brought it into his game at club or int level as yet. McGreggor isnt a goal scorer. We dont tend to score from free kicks. So its really just our forwards and McGinn.

Although a draw against Denmark is possible and a seeded draw would be ideal, I wouldnt play our key players who are on a yellow on Monday night. I wouldnt play Robertson, McGinn or Gilmour. Tierney can fill in at LB, meaning McKenna would prob come in at CB. McTom can swap in for Gilmour and any number of players could play the McGinn role. Yes it lessens our chances on Monday but we need a full strength tea for the play offs regardless of who or where we are playing.

The problem with Rangers is that they jam pack their squad with senior players so when it comes to picking a team the best 11 will always have senior players in it. Good example is midfield this season. Kelly did well in midfield but currently he isnt better than Davis, Ludstrom, Aribo, Hagi, Arfield, Kamara, Jack. So if even 4 of those players are unavailable then the 3 remaining would start and rightly so as they are the best players available. The board should be putting pressure on the manager to limit the squad size for a number of reasons. Financially being one of them but also it blocks opportunities for youth. Ive always said if a young Old Firm player cant come onto the pitch at half time when their team is 2 goals up against any Scottish Prem team then they shouldnt be at the club in the 1st place.

The only way Turnbull gets in the team is if he becomes better than McGinn in ACM or Adams, Christie, Fraser etc as the support player to Dykes. Even formation changes would have these players ahead of him. Ideally another year or so at Celtic then a move to a more competitive enviroment would elevate him to the level that many believe he is capable of. Im very much in the hopeful but unconvinced camp. He looks good / tidy in parts of some games but needs to be more consistent within games and also in general. Plenty of time though.

Rightly or wrongly im not sure how how much attention an incoming manager would pay to that if he is given assurances about budget etc. Its hard to tell what state Rangers are in financially. Clearly they are still operating at a huge loss but to a certain extent it is being managed and to me it appears that there has been signs of a levelling off. For example 23 million in a year seems like a huge loss (and it is) however alot of that is down to Covid. Celtic is regarded as running a very financially sound club and they made loss of 11.5 million last year. If you believe what you read, Rangers were tied into all kinds of contracts that werent good for the club under Ashley. It would take time to get out of these / let them expire and then put in place better contracts. From what ive seen Rangers have increased the number of partners but the value ler partner is still relatively low compared to what you might expect. This should improve over time as the club continues to be either winning the league or challenging for it. Add in the pot of gold for Champs league and things have the potential to look very different next year. That being said, if Celtic win the league Rangers might be faced with having a clear out to balance the books.

Looks like Gerrard will be off. He leaves Rangers in a much better position and the managers job will be much more attractive now. 4 points clear in the league, possibility of getting out of Europa group stage but no real pressure as they arent favs, probably the best squad in the league and although Celtic have impressed much more than many, myself included this season they still look like they will drop points. Winner if the league goes into champions league proper so thats a big incentive aswell.

Not the exact same but Andy Murray got dogs abuse for his attitude in his early years. Yet turned out it was what he needed to reach the very top. Most fans have no idea what it takes to succeed at the highest level in sport. God, most of our players dont. Its his career, its his body. He knows it wont go down well but has made the call. It will either work out for him or not. If he goes on to progress in Italy and becomes a regular for our 1st team then I doubt many of us will care that he pulled out of a few U21 squads managed by Gemmill years earlier.

Total non story. Fraser pulled out injured. This would have been done with communication between the Newcastle and SFA physio teams. He was pictured doing light training. Would people really rather he came away knowing he was injured, possibly started and had to be subbed after 10 mins? By pulling out he gave Clarke the opportunity of calling up a replacement. Its the opposite of being selfish. Lets just for a minute entertain that he isnt really injured and was faking it. Whats the last thing you would do in those circumstances? Yip, openly do a training session.

I can understand the anger from fans when we see somebody turn down something that we would all give an arm and a leg for however as a professional player he needs to look at the bigger picture. He is a very young player playing week in week out in one of the top 4 leagues in the world. Just by looking at him he is still very undeveloped (looks like a older boy rather than a young man). Its not like he has the physique of a Wayne Rooney so it must take its toll on him physically competiting at that level. Also, id imagine he has been doing alot of strength and conditioning work thats the norm in the big leagues but largely ignored in Scotland. All of this will factor into his thinking. As much as it doesnt sit nicely with me id much rather he missed the U21 squad and kept his place for Bologna rather than play and potentially get rested in a few weeks which could result in losing his place. The most important thing is that he progresses and reaches his potential for the full squad. Some players do that via the U21s, others dont.

I suppose theres nothing we can do to influence this part however theres no harm in having much several top players in the same position. As we have shown with Robertson and Tierney we can work around it. Also top players can adapt and still show their quality when played out of position. Ie McTom. He has his critics in defence but his ability to find a pass and execute it properly is a huge asset for us. Especially against smaller teams. Ie against Moldova we could start with Tierney and McTom either side of a natural CB. They both would be beneficial going forward much more than 3 traditional CBs. I believe we are 1 top centre forward away from reguarly getting to play offs and major comps. Put any starting striker for a top 6 team in a major league into our team and we are a totally different beast. Ie imagine us with Kane, Haarland, Jesus, Aguero, Lukaka etc etc

The fact that top sides are interested in our young players is a huge step forward. In the past we have had a few young players in big clubs academies and very much pinned our hopes on them when the stats will show the percentage that make it to the 1st team is very small. The fact we have much greater numbers at these clubs now increases the chances of a few breaking through. If we could have a breakthrough talent like Gilmour, Hickey, Patterson every couple of seasons then the national squad will be in a much healthier place. Then you have the natural knock on effect of teams paying more attention (and money) to our league when we have some success stories. If Bolonga get get money for Hickey then they and other Italian teams are more likely to keep an eye on what else is coming through. If Tierney continues to play well at Arsenal then EPL teams wont be put off paying good money for our good young players etc etc

Some of the key attributes to rcb are passing, positional sense and knowing when to step out and when to protect. From what ive seen of Ralston this season they arent his strengths. He seems to have high energy, getting up and down the line and has chipped in with some goals and assists. Much more suited to rwb in my opinion. Although saying that I agree with Clarke keeping a settled squad atm. If Ralston is still performing better than ODonnell come March then he deserves to get the call up.

Theres a difference between getting into the squad and remaining in the squad. Had it been the case where Patterson, Ramsey and Ralston had never been called up then it would be a difficult case to argue Patterson getting the call. However the situation is that Patterson was called up following an impressive run for his club, spent alot of time with the squad, learning the system and tactics etc during the Euros and also has impressed whenever he has played, including setting up the winner having only just came on in our last match. Patterson will remain in the squad / team until Clarke feels his Scotland performances are suffering from his lack of club game time or when another player comes along who will clearly do a better job for Scotland. Neither of those have happened or look likely to happen anytime soon. For comparison how many would drop Gilmour out the squad or replace him in the starting line up for McClean? Its the same as above, if Gilmour had never been capped then it would be unlikely he would be in this squad. But to not play him now would be madness.

I dont even think his fouls before this were taken into account. What part of the rules do you think would allow the ref not to issue a booking? Deliberate shirt pull, in your own half, when player is breaking towards final line of defence and ball nowhere near where the offender is. It wasnt a slight tug of the shirt. It was a deliberate attempts at stopping the rangers player moving any futher. I didnt watch the 2nd half so cant comment on the 2nd yellow but the 1st one shouldnt even be up for debate if you know the rules or have played the game.

A clearer yellow card you will struggle to find than Odonnells 1st. Player gets away from him inside the Motherwell half, balls about 2 yards infront of the Rangers player and Odonnell has a full fist of the players shirt to the point that none of the shirt is touching the rangers players back. I know the Old Firm get alot of soft decisons but this defo wasnt one of them.

Nobody deserves to die for doing their job. Im just pointing out that its possible to hold that view but also think the guy wasnt a saint.

I dont disagree as such however generally players are picked on merit. Without checking id guess that McBurnie scored more goals than Russell at Championship level then went onto play at a higher level so its hardly a surprise that he got picked before Russell. Fans have a tendency to look at a player not doing well at International level and conclude that X player could do better because they are performing at a much lower level. Shankland being a prime example. Constant calls for him to get called up and start when he was banging them in for fun in the scottish championship but those calls have largely disappeared when he went to Scottish Prem and now abroad and has largely done hee haw.

Normally playing for unfashionable teams for an entire career shows the level the player is operating at. I always thought Russell had some talent but theres a reason he hasnt ever played at a high level, whether that be ability or consistency or probably a combination of the 2.