theabsentee

Well said👌

Ok your figures are right McBurnie hasn't done it for Scotland & thats probably the main reason he isn't currently being selected as it seems it's got nothing to do with his character which I'm pleased to say . I vaguely recall him missing a sitter somewhere in the sun but I've no idea how many clear cut chances he hasn't taken. His club scoring record tells me it would be only a matter of time before he gets that lucky break for Scotland & he wouldn't have to bag more than 3 or 4 goals in his next handful of games to have similar stats to the rest. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying he should be selected, if everyone is on form come next June it's Adams, Dykes & Stewart for me but if any of those are injured or still out of form then there could be a pathway in for a on form McBurnie or any of the others.

Ok the guys had his off the field issues but according to the BBC's Lewis Irons he is a really popular figure in the Scotland dressing room . Nowhere near good enough could be labelled at any of our number 9 options. I'd take him over Jacob Brown any day of the week.

He only came off the bench after 79 minutes, must have been a terrible first 79 if they've awarded a sub MoM just for scoring the winner . Don't think he will ever be good enough but I'll be delighted to be proven wrong.

Yeh there's no doubt Doak is potentially something very special. He is raw though, needs to brush up on a few things, final ball, passing , finishing & keeping his head. Boy looks like he has real belief in himself also, reckon he is at the perfect club to refine his flaws , if he can Scotland will have that truly world class game changing player we've all craved for decades. Also looking forward to seeing how Mebude progresses in Belgium now he is fit, he's also potentially a top quality player. Sorry to finish with something negative but even though he looked very confident & was excellent tonight Slicker doesn't look the biggest, to me he looks a keeper who will have a decent career but probably not at the top level.

Yeh would definitely agree with that, though Pot 2 has some interesting options, apart from Denmark & Albania you could say the other 4 like us have been in the doldrums years & have only recently had upturns in fortunes. Hungary look particularly dangerous , they look like they have a lot of belief to go with excellent team spirit.

Perfectly summed up🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💪🩷

I was in the Georgia end & I could see it, really shocked & wonder where it came from, great people here so welcoming but they are getting seriously pissed off at all the Russians hiding here so maybe that's making them a bit more nationalistic & disrespectful to foreigners. Idk not trying to make a excuse for them just trying to make some sense in it.

I think you might be right, I believe he is very hard working also so he should suit our preferred one up front system.

Livramento has had a very bad injury that's without doubt held him back. He will be in or around the English squad by the summer unless he shocks nearly us all by choosing us or Portugal.

As long as a talent like Lawrence is injured & not been tapped up by England I'm okay with it. He has represented both in the past I believe. Dembele is a player I long since lost excitement about, crazy that he is still young enough for our under 21 squad. Doubt he wants to play for us anyway , think him & his older bro prefer Ivory Coast if they are good enough.

The topics is what it is about eligible young talent, for me it's a damn sight more interesting discussing potential players who could make a significant difference to the level of our squad depth in the future as it if discussing the older average elements of our current squad. If the likes of you & Kirk don't like the topic I don't know you bother posting on it.

Yeh this is a fact not mentioned much. As scotlad has just said it's highly unlikely Gray has grew up not knowing his family history, not many are privileged enough to have had family playing internationally & in his grandad's case the 1982 world cup. Only when I'm bored I look at the daily record so here's the latest, no real substance to the story but it does at least it does confirm that all potential Scotland qualifying players are being considered by Carver & Clarke . https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/archie-gray-targeted-scotland-secret-31429840

You make some decent points but it's not the same Andy Gray, Archies grandfather was Frank, his great uncle Eddie, his dad Andy played for Leeds, Burnley & Forest amongst others it what a steady if unspectacular career . His dad was born in England but still played a couple of times for us. Archie is also English born so unless his grandfather has serious influence on him I doubt there's any chance of him switching to us.

I'm pleased to hear it's that & not all down to his ability . Forest have such a huge squad I thought he had been dropped due to a supposed poor game against Burnley.

Maybe Clarke left Doig in the under 21 while he was tapping up Livramento's mother while he playing in the champions League😆

Absolutely would be dreading both games is we hadn't already made it. I'd be delighted with 4 points from this predictable squad.

That's good news then we can still dream that with him & Doak we will have 2 world class game changers trying to get in our first team maybe even by next summer🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿😆💪

Yeh those look pretty good attacking options there though Mebude hasn't even made the bench for nearly 2 months for Westerlo do you know if he has been injured ? If not it might be a slight worry if he isn't ready for that level yet. His brothers career faded pretty fast but I always felt Dire was going to be considerably better.

I'd take the Moroccan one but away as I've been looking for a excuse to visit for a good while.

Fair enough but think it's unlikely in these 3 players cases that we even get 1. Like previously said though Gunn was immediately excepted from our back up keepers so it should be the same with a outfield player. Even though I fully support the grandparent rule & we should take advantage of it like every other nation does I wouldn't want to see a overhaul of the strong team spirited squad we have now but 1 new fully committed qualifier from the potentials would improve our quality/depth & ultimately what its all about getting results.

Me too . Probably my highlights of what's been a pretty quiet weekend for Scots players are Stewart being fit & even more so Doak being fit enough to get directly back on the first team bench without having to play any reserve team football helps confirm how highly he is rated by Liverpool I reckon.

Celtic aren't much better so this is not really worth mentioning again. In fact someone should do a regular count up of Scots starting in the SPL each weekend. Probably average is no more than 3 per club. Including the bench its maybe 6 which is a very poor stat for a league . Another question of the 3 potential Scots starting for clubs out with the old firm how many currently would be good enough to step up to Rangers or Celtic & genuinely improve their teams my guess is probably none.

I'm sure Clarke has or will again ask but even though Livramento would be a brilliant player to have I can't see it happening sadly.. It is a worry Patterson potentially being knocked down to third choice if Coleman is fit.

They've paid a huge amount of money for him & he is/was a cracking player. That poison chalice of a club has a knack of dragging player's down a level or 2 so as far as mctominay is concerned he might be better off getting out of there & playing for a team that uses him in a position that suits him.