mrniaboc

Bain starting for Celtic today. Is Gordon injured?

A quick goal and then assist for McGinn.

Could well be the case. Though they have won 6 from 10 with him playing this season, and two of the ones they didn't win were scoreless draws.

Thanks for the tips lads! I'll be sure to check out the Albion and Three Kings on a matchday.

Sadly this is my life down here hahaha.

Bates dropped to the Hamburg bench for some reason today? Last couple of times they've done that they haven't kept a clean sheet...

1) Never thought I'd see a Buffy reference on here. Good man. 2) Sometimes shortenings of names have different spellings. Depends on personal preference I guess? C.f Madge or Peggy for Margaret, or even Alec for Alexander. 3) It's starting to look like almost everyone on here agrees on 8 of the starting 11! McGregor Tierney McKenna Mulgrew Robertson McGinn McGregor Fraser I think that's actually a really positive sign. That's a solid group of guys to build a team around if we can get them playing together regularly. Then all we have to do is figure out the other three, and it seems that ideally it would be 3 out of Griffiths if he can sort his troubles out, Armstrong if he can get some game time for his club, Cairney if he is keen to represent us, Christie who looks to be on the rise, and Forrest. Let's see if McLeish is on the same wavelength as us. Though I've got a terrible feeling he's gonna stick with McDonald.

Anyone know what's the best place in London for watching the matches? Is there a regular London TA haunt?

Absolutely agree.

I think I understand what you're saying here. Like he doesn't have the ability to single-handedly carry us to the final of a tournament like Ronaldo or Bale. But I think we should give the lad some real credit. He is certainly one of the best left backs in the world. There's a reason he's the 2nd top points-scoring defender in Fantasy EPL so far this season and is owned by 30% of teams. Absolutely no idea how you can say his form has been poor for a wee while? Perhaps you meant just for Scotland? I had to laugh after the Israel match (to stop myself from crying) when I saw people singling him out for criticism. They seemed to miss the times he had to run into the box and save a goalscoring opportunity, covering for the rest of his defense who had no fucking idea what was going on around them. His movement and anticipation is second to none. He can read the game like a children's book. He's also the 3rd top scorer in our current squad... In short, Robbo for President! PS: I love KT too, but he has to move to a better club before he even has a look-in at taking Robbo's starting spot.

Yeah, I didn't really mean it like that. Just meant their pace and physicality is threatening. Counter-attacks could be dangerous with them both on the pitch. Middleton is an 18-year-old footballer and he looks lie he could play for Scotland against Fiji this weekend!

Christie's run, touch, and pass for the 2nd goal was outstanding. He seems to be getting better with each game right now. Possibly pushing for start? Great to see Middleton playing so well too. His corners were lethal. Also, I think having Fraser and Middleton running towards you at full pace is a really scary prospect for any defence!

Middleton starting for Rangers in Europa League tonight.

McGregor Tierney - McKenna - Mulgrew - Robertson McGregor - McGinn - Christie - Fraser Russell Paterson

I think 3 at the back only works if the players know how to play it. In the last couple of games it has led to large spaces in behind SOD and Robbo when they go forward leaving a narrow back three exposed to counter-attacking wingers putting in lots of crosses. I totally get your point about adding more bodies potentially being a solution to not having great players, but I still think the most natural argument against it is that none of these guys really ever play it week in week out with their clubs. Playing professional footballers out of position in a formation they are not used to is a formula for disaster. On your other point, I don't think our midfield is as strong as it was a couple of years ago (Fletch, Brown, Morrison, Snoddy etc) but it's hard to argue against the fact we still have a lot more options there. There are only 3 recognised CBs in the squad and one of them is uncapped. Of course we're not as strong as the four best teams in Europe midfield-wise, but that's not what people are saying I think. What they mean is within the Scotland squad alone, midfield is easily our strongest area (apart fro left-back hahaha).

Actually it looks like Ritchie actually has asked to not be selected for the foreseeable future https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46122723. I don't think that's the case for Snoddy and Cairney though. I'd love to see them back in the squad.

You're right, he is also to blame. His game suits playing in a dominant side and he can't adapt, whereas a few other attacking Celtic players have shown they can (namely Griffiths and McGregor). Let's hope we can dominate Albania and Israel and he can finally step up!

From that squad I think these may be our best 11 players at the moment. I have absolutely no fucking idea how to choose the best formation to suit them: McGregor Tierney McKenna Mulgrew Robertson Christie McGregor McGinn Fraser Russell Paterson

If course they won't all have been. But the majority will have been against equal or better. Whereas for Celtic he plays more than 25 games in under a year and almost all are against worse teams. I don't disagree that he's ridiculously less effectual for Scotland than he is for Celtic, and it's so frustrating to see a Scotland player performing so well at club level and doing nothing for us, I'm just trying to say that I might not be his fault.

I think this point has been made a few times before but I genuinely don't think it's his fault. I certainly don't think he doesn't try as hard for Scotland. The main thing is that playing for Celtic he's almost always up against a much worse team and he see loads of the ball in attack so has lots of chances to do things. Playing for Scotland he just doesn't get those chances, because we are now a pot 3 team. We aren't the Celtic of the international scene. We're the Partick Thistle, and we're most often playing better or equally-talented teams. It's a shitty dilemma, but sometimes we're just not good enough to field our most silky players, because they aren't gonna see the ball. But then that thinking gets you to 6-4-0 and...fuck. I don't even know any more. I just want him to play well if he gets the chance. That's all I want for any of the lads, and I'm sure that's what they want too.

It is bizarre to see Scotland give Mcdonald the nod and not Cairney, when it's the opposite at their club. I get that they do slightly different jobs but it's clear Cairney is the more talented player. I think our squad could really do with Snoddy around for morale if nothing else! Slightly surprised to not see another centre half in there to cover Mulgrew who's carrying an injury.

They were completely over run. Did well to keep it to just 2. In the occasions the did break out, the play went through Cairney but there was very little support and the ball was normally overturned after a few passes. Great to see him back though. Looking forward to him getting back into the league.

From the lack of details about Griffiths' absence from the Celtic team I'm worried his problems are most likely mental/personal. I hope he's ok. Got to give all these lads the benefit of the doubt and remember they are real people and we all struggle at times. It might be that playing for Scotland isn't the most important thing in his life right now, but hopefully he can sort everything out and come back even stronger.

Brazil no doubt...

I am a little surprised he's chosen Bates over McKenna, and no start for either of the McGregors. Think I'd also like to see McGinn in there for either Armstrong, McDonald, or GMS. Cairney should be fit again for a call up too, and he was playing really well before his injury. I'm not sure Tierney will be dropped either. In other news, Ryan Christie seems to be in the middle of a purple patch.