Chripper

It's truly becoming ridiculous. It happens with every squad and it seems to be getting worse. Another reason I miss Darren Fletcher, he showed up through illness and tough times. McTominay seems to be in the same mould, I don't think he's ever pulled out... whereas Fraser tends to pull out 3 out of 5 squads.

Definitely. When Andy Robertson is doing it (he's meant to be a good seed) it's time to worry. If I were McLeish and the SFA I would say invoke the 5 day rule. (Or is it 3 days?). OK. It won't have any effect this time around what with their not being domestic matches next weekend, but still. I'd get tough with the players. The time for being namby-pamby should be over. If a player is constantly pulling out of the squad then I'd call him and ask him whether or not he wants to retire from international duty. Would it cause bad blood? Not with the players who truly want to play for Scotland.

It's definitely gotten worse under McLeish. This is why he's called up such a padded squad, when we get the inevitable calls off then it won't look as bad. He's wrong. I don't know. My confidence in these player is shattered and it looks like we'll be missing around half of our strongest team.

Seriously? And yet today he was bombing around like a maniac? Strange how these things crop up. It's a pity in 2019 medical science hasn't produced some sort of pain killer... We will now lose to Kazakhstan.

Yes, McGregor is excellent against free transfers.

Shows that football opinions are like snowflakes, no two are alike. I thought Robertson (aside from the mistake that lead to the Munich goal) was absolutely superb. Just checked the Liverpool Echo and the Guardian and he got 7 out of 10 in each. People are touting him to play as an anchorman but that's Russian Roulette. I wouldn't trust him in a midfield two, either, for the same reason. I'd either play him in a midfield three (as the other two will be able to cover for his mistakes) or just behind the striker(s).

If we had better options then I'd pick neither of them as I'm not particularly enamoured with either of them.

Robertson is playing in European Cup finals, he'll be in the EPL team of the year at the end of the season and he could well finish the season with an EPL winner's medal. Whereas Tierney is playing against free transfers on a weekly basis. Tierney will only develop if he joins a league where the teams have actual disposable income.

To be fair, it's a coin toss between him and Armstrong.

And rightly so. I'd say already McTominay is a better player and he's certainly hungrier. McTominay had brilliant performances against Palace, Liverpool and PSG and then he's dropped for the next two matches. It's insane to break up a team that's winning. Cool. Thanks.

Let the call offs begin: McKenna is a doubt for the Kazakhstan match.

What is this, blankety blank?

Bain Bates McKenna Tierney Palmer Robertson McTominay Armstrong McGinn Forrest Burke --- Since the Plastic Menace has struck I've replaced Fraser with McGinn, and since McBurnie is under the weather I'll choose Burke.

That's two matches in a row McTominay hasn't started, twice they've lost.

It is. To be fair, I think all of our players would hold their own in the EPL.

Scott McTominay is on the bench again. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's a tool.

I switched between the Hamburg and Sheffield United vs Leeds match, but I only caught the first half of both: Cooper is not very good, he'll probably be sold when Leeds get promoted. Fleck will probably hold his own in the EPL, but as a bottom-mid table player. The Bates one is a stumper, in the first half Hamburg were strolling it 2:0... then I turn off and the lose 2:3. I don't know whether any of the goals were Bates's fault. One thing I will say is that Hamburg play football the right way, they play football on the deck, so Bates is definitely learning good habits.

Fingers crossed. We need as many players as we can to be playing in top leagues. Usually I would say that there is no way that Tierney would join a mid-table EPL side, but because of his connections to Brendan Rogers, who knows. Not at all.

Borussia Dortmund cool interest in Kieran Tierney as they feel that £25m is too steep. I've said it before (I think it was on this thread), and was scoffed at, but I'll say it again. No team will ever spend more than £15m on a Scottish based Scottish footballer.

Fair enough. Maybe I'm being a wee bit harsh. If it's so universally hated then plastic pitches should be banned. They have no place in professional football.

Let's face facts: the SFA, McLeish and the Scotland players don't deserve us. It used to be that players would put their heads where no normal person wouldn't put their feet, players would put their bodies on the line for the honour and privilege representing Scotland. Now where are we? Players don't want to play on plastic surfaces incase they get injuries. Poor wee souls.

We have more matches/time to work on things than in Craig Brown's time, and yet he managed to coach them properly. As for the Israel match, if we played with a four away at Israel then the performance/result would've been pretty much the same. Where's the evidence of this? In 2001 we switched from a 3 to a 4 and we have not once qualified for anything since. Our players are not suited to a 4 and they haven't been since the 80's/very early 90's. There's no doubt that McLeish benefitted greatly from the comradery that was built up by Smith. Look at the results of the past 18 years, I think you'll find that it's very unlucky.

I agree with you. However, against teams akin to us, or teams we're expected to beat, when we have possession it allows our two flaking center backs to spread out, allowing our wingbacks to pretty much turn into wingers. Or one of center backs can push up into midfield, allowing a midfielder license to roam forward. There's so many variables with a three and if we played it long enough, the players got comfortable with it and the manager had faith in it I'm sure we'd begin to see an improvement. I was encouraged when McLeish was talking about "going back to the future with a three" but the simple fact that he gave it a handful of matches says that he's scrambling. And as far as the 4-2-3-1, played in a way that one of the anchormen can push forward when we have possession it could definitely work, but whenever we use that formation the anchormen just stay grounded in a defensive stance. Thanks for at least acknowledging that the sky wouldn't fall in if we used three at the back.

I know. I don't really care what formation we play, either, but I appear to be the only person who thinks that our players don't suit a four, and haven't done since the 80s/early 90s. We have no top central defenders who play at the top level, so they need help, and making it a three would help.

It would appear so. If it is a case of the plastic pitch then it only comes into force for one match. I suppose we don't need him to beat San Marino, though.