BucksburnDandy

Will hopefully give it a listen tomorrow. All the best with the ongoing recovery from the ACL reconstruction. Glad to hear you boys back on the pod, sorely missed the content last month.

I think that says it all about what a lot of us thought - Celtic vastly overplayed the lad for far too long. Ultimately it looks like the SFA have bought into his rehabilitation process and hopefully that will come to fruition in March. Not sure if I trust that this will be the case but we have to hope that it all works out.

Ah sugar. Was hoping he would be back sooner. Ok, if Halkett is also still out then either Mulgrew or Gallagher although neither inspires me greatly

My 25: Keepers: Marshall, McLaughlin, Kelly Defenders: Robertson, Tierney, Taylor, Palmer, McKenna, Souttar, Findlay, Devlin, SOD Midfielders: Forrest, Fraser, McTominay, Armstrong, Christie, McGinn, McGregor, Fleck, McLean, Mikey Johnston (if fit) Strikers: Griffiths (if fit), McBurnie, Shankland.

Having seen Bulgaria last week, I feel we have nothing to fear there. Playing Israel again wouldn't fill me with confidence, neither playing Romania. Realistically, if we are to have any chance, if we even make the final, we need it to be at home. We would get beat away from home as this team is flaky. A home final would give us a great chance.

I think a formations thread would be good, as this one is about McTominay, who had another good game yesterday. Fire up a formations thread @The_Dark_Knight, I'm happy to contribute as seen above, so long as everybody's opinion is respected and not patronised.

People here are fairly happy to discuss anything related to Scotland. What annoys them is when they put up a counter point, they are patronised for being not knowledgeable. Like you, I am somewhat of a mind that maybe we do need to implement 3-5-2 for a while. But I'm not going to patronise those who disagree as I was recently one of them who couldn't see 3-5-2 working. The biggest barrier to us at present using the system is the lack of time we have to train as a national team, working on that new system. It is a big issue with the current setup of constant games is no time to work on tactical stuff on the training park. The reason it failed last year was because we had a group of naive, inexperienced players playing the system without through tactical work and instruction. It worked against England as we had a far more experienced team, not needing as much tactical instruction. I have no doubt that given time, Clarke could make 3-5-2 work, but he doesn't have enough time to make it work before March.

Let's not pretend Man United fans are more knowledgeable. The formation worked today against a far superior opponent as it did for us against England. Both of which are one offs where it has happened. My club side, Aberdeen, pulled off a shock 3-0 against Rijeka in Croatia using 3-5-2. We've tried it on numerous occasions since and failed every time. I understand that you want to try 3-5-2, and I might tend to agree with you. But let's not pretend that it will magic up results or that people are more knowledgeable for wanting to play it. It has a number of merits, which I'm happy to discuss. But attacking people for not wanting to play it by claiming that they are not knowledgeable is a bit of a false economy and is likely to turn people off from the idea of debating its merits. Happy to see the debate The_Dark_Knight but please don't insult people in the process. We all want the best for Scotland on here

McLeish played 3 at the back against Albania at Hampden also. Souttar, Mulgrew and a strangely fit Tierney played as the three. It got binned after the Israel game in Haifa where we invited too much pressure on players who had not had the tactical instruction needed to play that formation. It was very obvious that night in the ground that the defence didn't have a clue, particularly SOD and Robertson at wing back. Now I'm not against 3 at the back, I think it could ultimately be a good idea but we would need a manager with tactical nous to instruct the players how to play it as well as plentiful time on the training field to work on it. Essentially we need to scrape our way to Euro 2020 then use the time pre tournament to work day in, day out on it with this group of younger players.

Always sad to see a player retire but truthfully his time was heading towards a close. Thursday in Moscow really did show that up. I'd rather he had kept himself available for the playoff just incase. But if it means a chance for Mikey Johnston, then I can accept it. All the best Snoddy.

Ultimately we have to be happy with today. Six goals and an enjoyable enough performance against a dreadful outfit. Good to see McGinn grab a few goals, Shankland and Findlay grab their first goals and for Armstrong to remind everyone of his quality. Very little more we could ask. McGregor really should have been rested but that is my only gripe

If everyone is fit and I'm playing 4-2-3-1: Marshall; Tierney, Souttar, McKenna, Robertson; McTominay, Fleck; Fraser, Armstrong, Christie; Griffiths. If I play 3-5-1-1: Marshall; Souttar, McKenna, Tierney; Fraser, McTominay, Fleck, Armstrong, Robertson; Christie; Griffiths. So basically the same personnel but different shapes. Ultimately I'm minded to head towards 3/5 at the back just now, to try to stem the tide of goals against us. However the one thing putting me off it is the performance in Israel, which is by far the worst I've ever witnessed as a Scotland fan. Mind you, 4 at the back hasn't been working either!

The clubs know that the SFA are an absolute pushover when it comes to letting players miss out. Until the SFA start calling up players who are fit, the clubs will continue to ask their players to be excused. While there may be circumstances where players do need left out, what we have now has gone too far the other way, where clubs are dictating squads to the national team.

It really depends on what formation we are playing. If we switch to 3-5-1-1 then: Marshall; Gallagher, Findlay, Taylor; Fraser, Armstrong, McTominay, Fleck, Robertson; Christie; Burke. If we are sticking with 4-2-3-1 then: Marshall; Palmer, Gallagher, Findlay, Robertson; McTominay, Fleck; Fraser, Armstrong, Christie; Burke

I'm not here to talk about managers or the rotten system of development here in Scotland. They have been done to death but nothing will change because no one in football cares enough to think of the bigger picture. I want to talk about the players tonight who once again absolutely failed to take any professional pride once we lost the opening goal. It's such a basic thing but being 1 down does not mean stopping doing the basics of the role that they are playing. See Andy Robertson fail to track his man at the third goal, supposedly our best player. Not many passes tonight but I thought tonight was the night that should see Charlie Mulgrew phased out the team. He was absolutely awful in that second half. He's in for experience but he does not bring any fight or quality in his defending. Absolutely pointless having him in. Would rather see Findlay play. Ultimately if players don't care enough to do their jobs, why should the fans turn up?

Correct. While I agree with you that the grandparent rule feels wrong, we need to get over ourselves when it comes to exploiting it. Ultimately other nations have no qualms about it, so we should be the same. See England poaching Declan Rice who had played three times for Ireland. For many footballers, there is little loyalty to a country anymore, particularly when they are dual nationals. So we should absolutely exploit things as much as we can. God knows we need all the talent in our squad that we can get just now.

At the moment, we have a pretty brutal selection of players for this match. Tossing up between the usual formation and playing a different formation. Usual formation: Marshall; Taylor, Findlay, Mulgrew, Robertson; Snodgrass, Armstrong, Christie, Fleck, Fraser; Burke. 5-3-1-1 (wing backs): Marshall; Fraser, Gallagher, Mulgrew, Findlay, Robertson; Armstrong, Fleck, McGinn; Christie; Burke. I appreciate this is a big change on what we have been used to playing but truthfully, we have been absolutely honking defensively recently, merely a different idea to try to stem the defensive issues. Ultimately I'd expect our usual formation to be stuck with but I'm open to being more defensive for this match

Right now I'd sell my soul to the devil to actually see us qualify for a major tournament. As such, as much as it is somewhat humiliating, I'd call him up and see if he is any use.

The performance schools closing would be the biggest act of self harm yet by the SFA. There are numerous superb young players going through these just now, with some good coaching. Clubs have zero desire to improve the game nationally, this is a measure purely to bag a few thousand pounds extra.

I agree with a great deal of this. However, I would more heavily criticise Mulgrew, who doesn't control the defence to the extent an experienced player like him should. McGregor is knackered but he also has not looked all that good in a Scotland shirt in his appearances. Must do better

That was absolutely brutal. Just mince. Until we scored, we looked bright and effective but we went into total retreat mode. Rather than trying to go toe to toe, we surrendered to Russia, who are a good team. The midfield was absolutely overran. McGregor was absolutely shocking, one of the worst individual performances I've seen in a long time. McGinn, bar scoring, was his usual ineffectual self. Running round like a madman is not actually that useful without some nous on winning the ball and moving forward. Our right side is so weak that it is scary. Forrest is mince for Scotland, a good Premiership player who gets found out in a Scotland shirt. Stephen O'Donnell has never and will never be good enough to be an international footballer. Plenty people happy to slag Oli McBurnie but with the level of service and total lack of support coming from midfield, he's always going to be left exposed and unable to do much at all. We are so mentally weak as a team, it is frightening. Instead of taken a lift from taking the lead, we treated it as a burden. It is beyond me why this team see it like that. Part of it is absolutely down to Steve Clarke, who got his starting lineup badly wrong tonight. The other part is down to a weak mentality and the usual defeatist nonsense that we are continually served up. Ultimately this team are so far off qualifying for a tournament. Once again, as a fanbase, we are likely going to miss out due to the ineptitude of our national team. A truly depressing night

Marshall; SOD, Cooper, Mulgrew, Robertson; Armstrong, McTominay, McLean; Forrest, Naismith, Fraser. Fully aware Armstrong hasn't played much but we are an infinitely better team with him than without him. McLean earns his start after his games in June. Don't trust McBurnie enough to play up front.

All these guys who have seen Scotland when we were relatively successful. Whereas I barely remember 1998 and as such remember only fallow times. Gordon; Dailly, Weir, Hendry, Robertson; D.Fletcher, Ferguson; Fraser, Maloney, McFadden; Miller

Looks like McKenna will miss out with injury. Not sure if John Souttar will make it. As such, will be interesting to see who Steve Clarke goes with. Personally would call up Liam Cooper but I imagine Stuart Findlay will get the call.

At present, I'd like the squad to be: Keepers: Marshall, Gordon, Kelly Defenders: Robertson, Mulgrew, McKenna, Lindsay, Fredericks (if ready to declare), Paterson. Ideally would include Souttar and Tierney but not sure if either will be fit. Midfielders: Forrest, Fraser, McTominay, McGinn, Armstrong, Christie, McGregor, Fleck, Cairney, Snodgrass Strikers: Griffiths, Naismith, S.Fletcher, McBurnie