theabsentee

The reality of the time we live.

We should be much more disappointed when we lose out on lads who are born & bred here & choose to play for someone else. Recent examples are Harry Souttar & perhaps Scott Banks. I'll also be sad if we lose Elliot Anderson as he looks a player. Again though born down south so we have to respect his decision. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/elliot-anderson-lands-england-u19-20211797.amp

Shame but at his age its almost impossible to predict whether he will make the grade or not. Lads generally need to be strongly influenced by a parent from another country to not prefer to represent the nation they where born & grew up in. In this case i guess various other factors might come into it, as well as probably better coaching & facilities they have down south it's also more convenient for him. Chances are he won't be back with us unless he isn't good enough or his dad makes him see sense.

But he didn't choose England in the end did he ffs!

You/we know you won't 😘

Irrelevant as he is committed now 😉

No disrespect but that's total nonsense. He is in the squad now then it's his place to lose. If he plays & performs well in the WC qualifiers he goes to the Euros on current form simple as.. As for strikers that got us qualified apart from Dykes let's not even go there.

Very well said. I had a sneaky feeling this might happen & I'll be pleased if it's true. Time will tell but i suspect Clarke already knew he was ready to commit prior to the story a couple of months ago in the Daily Record about not approaching him again. As Clarke knows It'll obviously help Adams be excepted by the doubters within the tartan army if the player himself made this approach. On the other hand maybe he just contacted him & begged him commit as our current bunch of strikers couldn't score in a Bangkok brothel 😂 Anyway i don't really care, he may not be a world beater but he is certainly better than anything else we have currently.

My memory is shot but from what i recall Tony Adams couldn't handle Duncan Ferguson at his peak so if he had played during that wembley clash at Euro 96 it could have been a very different outcome. Imagine that we might not have spent the last 25 years crying about Gary Mc's missed pen or berating that clown spoonbender😁 I know big Dunc quit us way too early but was he still available but actually injured during Euro 96 ?

Positives are McKenna being back & that Marshall is fit enough to be on the bench. .

The 2 lads from Coventry are a long way off selection, i don't think Rose is even a regular starter this season. I like the few minutes I've seen of Elliot Anderson & really hope he is committed to us but the reality is he hasn't even been on the Newcastle bench of late so don't think there's any chance even with a 26 man squad Clarke will promote him. You might be right with Kelly over McCrorie but neither have played a lot of first team football this season. If Marshall & Gordon are both fit i would prefer the 3rd choice keeper to be a younger guy. If Clarke thinks McCrorie might eventually reach the required level i think he will select him now.

From what I've saw he is strong, quick, quite skilful, works hard & seems technically sound. Our forwards all have some attributes but none of them come close to being as gifted a all round player as Adams. His is arguably the ideal fit our 1 up front system but as we all know he hasn't committed to playing internationally to anyone so unless that changes in our favour there's not a lot of point discussing him.

Apologies Faroes..

Well summed up. Due to our current lack of quality alternatives we have to keep McBurnie in the squad. Start him as the main man against San Marino & see if he can break his duck, a goal against them might just be the catalyst for a run of form not many on here would think he is capable of. Totally agree with your support striker choices. Whoever is on better form between Christie, Fraser & Turnbull should start. I've not seen enough of Gauld to pass true judgement but from what I've read support striker suits him & he is certainly a better shout than any of our potential strikers.

You might be right though i would imagine Sheff Utd will play a different style in that far inferior championship.

Currently they are all much of a ordinary muchness I'm afraid. McBurnie has had a poor season & is struggling for confidence but if we could fast forward 12 months my money would be on him out scoring the rest of them & also being close to the top of the championship leading scorers list.

The reality sadly.

There is absolutely no chance Armstrong will miss out whether McLean makes it or not. At club level Armstrong has arguably had the best season from any of our midfielders. I would imagine Clarke spends more time considering how he can get him into the starting 11 never mind the squad. As mentioned previously i hope he is thinking about trying him at RWB, he has the energy & intelligence for that role & could be the solution at least short term to our weakest position . O'Donnell played well in Belgrade but with a player of such limited ability its only a matter of when he will be exposed badly & cost us dearly at international level. As for McLean, he is a good top half championship player nothing more, he might still make it as a back up to Ryan Jack but ability wise shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Armstrong. A couple of great pens under pressure shouldn't change that.

Just agreeing with some of the up to date guys here, Fleck has been in excellent form the last few weeks. He has certainly played himself back into contention. A few mentioning how well Mckenna has been doing for Forest, well your right he was doing well prior to be injured, don't think he has played for 4 or 5 weeks. Our biggest concern form wise might be Dykes , subbed the other night & QPR turned the game around without him. From their forum most QPR fans don't think he is even championship level. Reality is there's so many tough choices for Clarke to make, he needs to keep the nucleus of the squad that appears to have bonded so well but there are some younger more talented players knocking on the door. Hope as rumoured Uefa increase squads to 26 & when form doesn't make it obvious Clarke chooses the younger players with more potential over the steady Eddie's. If you want names, I'd like to see at least 2 or 3 from Turnbull, Gilmour, Gauld, McIntyre & Hendry selected for the march qualifiers & if they show enough between now & the end of the season they keep their places for the summer.

Great news, he needs a good game & a win. Cup starts & perhaps a Chelsea run to the final combined with a few cameo appearances from the bench in the epl might just be enough to get him in the squad. Personally I'd like to see him & Turnbull in the squad for next months WC Qualifiers. In fact start them both against San Marino

Thought you might have some personal knowledge of Kents Scottish granny 😁

It is, he sounds a grounded hard working lad. He was on the bench last night against Atlético, let's hope he can stay in the first team squad & get some game before the end of the season.

I believe that nickname league one Liam is quite widespread within the Leeds fans, my mate who is also a season ticket holder mate also calls him that & still doesn't rate him. The way Leeds play it must be pretty tough being a central defender at times especially against the top 6 to 8 Epl clubs. He was very solid last night & seems to have handled the step up in class so far. Leeds also this season signed Spanish & German international centre backs ( both injured currently) so he needs to continue in his fine form to be sure to start. If he can for another month then he could be deserving of a start in the WC qualifiers. If fit though Tierney & McTominay are certainties so there's only the middle mans position up for grabs..

Your right in saying there's a lot of competition but apart from the Tierney/Robbo debate it's only in midfield where we have a abundance of good quality. Central defence plenty of solid pros but no stand outs. I'm sure we can debate them over the coming months. 3rd choice keeper is up for grabs as is O'donnell's probably back up in our by far weakest position RB/RWB As for the Forwards, there's a abundance of potentials, the one who has been key for us lately Dykes hasn't scored for what seems months. Really hope for his confidence he can bag a few for QPR especially from open play before the end of the season. If he doesn't & loses his club place then his Euro place can't be guaranteed either. The only definite for me is Fraser, he is versatile,has plenty pace & is excellent technically so unless he was to totally drop out of the Newcastle first team picture or is injured again he is a cert. If Dykes does find some form then he is in & then it's probably only 2 or 3 from Burke, McBurnie, Griffiths & Forrest though that could change with a good run of form from any of our dark horses Nisbet, Morgan, Russell & Phillips or less likely Shankland or Mikey Johnston. The only other i could see coming in with a late run is dare i say it that superior black stallion Che Adams😁. As him committing to Scotland looks unlikely I'll get behind whoever is selected but personally I'm hoping Forrest makes it & Burke can kick on from his match winner against Man Utd as this guy with his power & pace could be a serious threat to use from the bench.

Zac Jules now there's a player i never thought we would be desperate enough to mention on here again. I read the Walsall forum & the fans rate him highly, apparently as well as being big & strong he is lightning quick. He has been playing left back a lot for them so he is decent on the ball also. Fair play to him, maybe it was a confidence issue earlier in his career & playing regular football has transformed him. Doubt he will reach the level required but you never know with those attributes. I see another centre back often mentioned here Tom McIntyre is having a good game for Reading tonight, a assist & goal so far 👍