theabsentee

Porteous , McKenna, Tierney would be my starting choices also. I like Hanley but think the centre of the 3 role can be played well by almost all our options & maybe due to injuries & age it might be time to move on from Hanley . If Kenny McLean makes the squad his recent performances playing well in central defence should allow Clarke to chance only taking 5 central defenders. Probably that'll be Hendry, Porteous, Tierney, McKenna & Hanley with Souttar sadly missing out.

Yeh it could, they are a decent side but you'd expect they have signed him to play not a bench filler so every chance a good run of games could see him starting in the middle of the 3 ahead of Hanley etc in the summer. Probably our best centre back in the air & decent on the ball just turning against fast technical forwards is his weakness but you can say that about all the guys he is competing for a Scotland start with.

Great news, a huge relief for him & Scotland.

Yeh me too. Though I doubt their champions league run will last beyond this round.

I do understand how you feel about this but most of us just want us to win games which hopefully means feel good factors & months of having something to be excited about( tournament football🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🩷) I think lads that are born elsewhere to Scottish parents can grow up feeling Scottish if their parents want them to be but when it comes to grandparents they aren't Scottish & never will be but it doesn't mean they aren't proud to represent us. There's plenty of good examples of this & there will be plenty more in the future. Every country does it & when they play for that nation in a major tournament in front of a worldwide audience the people watching won't be thinking about how Scottish, English or German etc etc a particular player is. In the future it's not inconceivable we might have 5 or 6 coloured guys starting for us( hopefully at least half of them both in Scotland) then older people that know anything about our history or even just watched braveheart or outlander might find it a little funny but it's just the reality of the world we now live in, multiculturalism will/has even landed in Scotland 🩷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😊

McCracken Will be 24 in may & has played only about a dozen low level first team matches, doesn't sound like anyone we should be getting too excited about. The other young Scottish keeper on Norwich books Archie Mair who is younger than McCracken & playing on loan at Morecambe seems a much better prospect at this stage.

He is playing regularly & has been selected before so might have a good chance of making it especially if some of our other options aren't starting for their clubs towards the end of the season. I forgot about Bowat though he would be a shock pick .

I'm not worried too much as of yet but come the march friendlies if our central defender options are not playing anymore than now I'd be getting quite concerned. My current summary is Porteous( reading the Watford forum fans are saying the reason he is being left out is he isn't consistent enough, last season he was a colossus this season he has gone back to the SPL Porteous, he looks a great defender at times but occasional rash tackles, poor positioning & the odd terrible pass have returned to his game. Also read the Udinese rumour is just that as they have their full quota of non EU players ) Hanley( fit again & a good 2nd half of the season will probably see him make the squad) Tierney( injured per norm😪) Souttar( more out than in the team though let's hope Saturdays impressive performance will lead to him having the chance of establishing himself as a regular starter) McKenna ( His contractual issue desperately needs solved one way or another as he needs to be playing coming into his peak years ) Cooper( not likely to ever be a regular starting at Leeds again but probably happy to stay due to having long term ties & being club captain . As a consequence he may well have excepted his chances of going to Germany are very slim) Hendry ( personally never been a fan but he is at least a regular starter for his club) Quansah( Not seen the lad kick a ball but the Liverpool fans raving about him, heard he is a mix of Alan Hansen & VVD, that'd do for me! Before I start getting abused it's a tongue in cheek shout as this grannie eligible Englishman has played at every level for England & has never even been approached by Scotland as far as I know so calm down boys it sadly won't be happening🤣) Think Dominic Hyam or anyone else would only have a chance if their was a injury & form crisis but I do think Kenny McLean's apparent ability to play in defence does potentially free up space to risk taking one less central defender & leave space for another attacking preferable wide player. Only KT is automatic for me, the rest are much of a muchness, form should be the deciding factor but like most I expect Hendry & Porteous if they stay relatively regular in their teams will go . So it's probably 2 from Hanley, McKenna & Souttar. Much as I like Hanley the other 2 are both better on the ball & younger so if they are playing regularly I'd like to see them selected.

Great post, at least your honest🤣

Yes about time posters took note. If you don't see the game you need to check out club fans forums for their opinions on their MOM much more genuine than the BBC.

Yeh it will be, centre back . Think he is a pretty big lad who can play a bit so would expect him to be ready & look pretty good at that level . Duncan Ferguson might know him as think Mullen came through the Everton youth system unless I'm mistaken & it was Liverpool.

Looked half decent for 5 minutes, don't get carried away.

No disrespect but it's not really much of a read. Normal a club offers a player for a lower price when his contract is in its last 6 months, it's slightly surprising no EPL don't want to chance it but Adams but that's probably down to his poor season prior to the last couple of weeks. Personally don't mind if he stays or goes just need to be playing & in the form he is capable of come the summer. By the way I can't see any team paying near £6 million for Shankland.

Let's just be a nation of losers then, let's get pissed & not even bother attending the game because we're only going to get humped when we play anyone that's decent, again if your happy with that good for you but I'm certainly not.

They've a huge pool of players to choose from, it's really not a valid argument comparing them to us . I'll say it again as I guess I might have posted a similar statement before but we will NEVER qualify for another world cup, that's 99% certain, Euro champs would be possible but probably only every other or third tournament if you can live with that qualification record then let's stick to only Scottish born players😪

Tierney is the player we are most worried about losing as I reckon with his record there is a 50/50 chance he will have another injury before the summer we just have to hope he gets only a knock that keeps him out for a couple of weeks rather than anything more serious. Absolutely love KT, my fav Scottish player & he is so key to how we play, be absolutely gutted for him & us if he was to miss another major championship . Where is proof he is homesick for Glasgow? Please KT don't return to that level of football until you're 30+

Exactly. I've been half asleep glancing through all these posts comparing Shankland to Dykes & Adams etc. It seems rather impossible to judge unless they play at similar levels & similar roles which they don't so you can't fairly compare them . Where's this Everton link came from? When's the last time a EPL club took a punt on a unproven top level 28 year old lower league forward? I'd be amazed if that offer came but if it did Shankland would not hesitate in grasping it. Earn life changing money comes first & he like any professional will believe he is good enough to play at that level. He has been scoring for fun at SPL level for quite some time & not guaranteed to be in our squad so why would he worry about switching to a bench/impact player at EPL level.

I do know what you mean, he certainly doesn't make himself sound like he has been glued to the TV watching all of our qualifiers over the years of non selection. I used to rate him, thought he was a creative midfielder with a good shot , maybe playing like a better version of David Turnbull. Though I haven't watched a Fulham game in years so I'm not really sure which of our midfielders would have to get injured for him to have even a have a chance of being called up as a direct replacement . Probably take 2 injuries to give him a decent shout.

Not weird pretty normal I reckon. Any eligible player should be pushing themselves forward for any nation that qualifies for a major tournament & just because he has apparently publicly said it doesn't mean he hasn't been wanting called up before qualifying. I've yet to see anyone post any proof here that he didn't want to be selected the last few years.

Surely if he keeps starting & standing out for Killie Gemmill can't ignore him come the next squad.

Interesting to see how he deals with the step up. Also thanks for the update on Kerr Smith, new contract means Villa rate him & it looks like Levein or someone from St. Johnstone also does. Wouldn't be signing him if they didn't think he is ready to play regularly at spl level. Be watching him with interest for the rest of the season.

Sounds about right to me. Guys been a excellent player & captained Fulham for 7 years but still not deemed good enough to start for us. Don't know how many squads he was called into for his couple of caps but I would certainly understand why he'd be pissed off sitting watching us look bang average & not getting on. It's too late now so unless Clarke really loved him which he obviously doesn't I can't see anyway back even though he is arguably better than a 2 or 3 midfielders in our squad .

Yeh nothing online from any reliable source. Good player but think it's pretty irrelevant now as he is in his 30's & it's very unlikely he would be a starter even if he still wanted called up. I think the likes of Armstrong & Christie etc who generally aren't starters for us can still make a impact so arguably if everyone is fit there's no need for another good midfielder warming the bench . That might be the reason he doesn't push himself in the media to be called up, he was never given a serious chance for us when he was in the squad so prefers to hang out with his gorgeous wife while not defending his first team premier league place.

Think you've mentioned Quansah before but I still had to Google him again, seems a very good prospect but hardly see him committing to us through a grandparent when he is only 20 & in the England system. Gray would be great addition with much stronger links but sadly can't see that happening either . I love hearing about & following these eligible lads but I know a few posters on here don't so I'm trying to keep my comments about them to a minimum until one actually shows genuine interest in representing us .

I like Porteous but not sure about the ball playing skill of a Italian defender comment . Never been a big fan of Hendry, got decent pace & technique but he gets out muscled too easily for my liking. I find it hard picking my favoured 3 as the only guaranteed pick is on the left Tierney . If pushed for me it's Porteous on the right & probably Mckenna in the centre but that's not viable just now as he has been frozen out at Forest. I hope before our march friendlies most of our options are playing regularly then Clarke has a tough decision call to make. One player I don't expect to make it is Cooper, I think his time for Scotland could be up as barring injuries he isn't a first pick for Leeds anymore.