DesiScotsman

Wonder how many Polish fans will have bought tickets in the Wales end 😄

Playoff finals: Path A: Wales - Poland Path B: Ukraine - Iceland Path C: Georgia - Greece Fancy Wales, Ukraine & Greece to make it through.

Tierney & Robertson are certain starters. Patterson is the obvious choice at RWB with no Hickey due to injury. The other two remaining defensive positions, I have based my selection on the players that have been playing regularly and playing well. Souttar has finally had a good run of games under his belt and playing his best football for some time and managed to steer well clear of the treatment table. Porteous has also got back into the Watford starting eleven and seems like he’s been playing well since being reinstated although I had a bit of a toss-up between him Hendry (who I don’t know how he’s been performing in Saudi Arabia as it’s not a league that I watch/follow). I just prefer Porteous over Hendry particularly in that RCB role. Cooper hasn’t really kicked a ball for Leeds Utd as Farke prefers the Welsh duo of Ampadu & Rodon at CB ahead of Cooper. I can’t see him being in the final selection for Germany due to the lack of game time he’s getting at Leeds.

Euro 24 playoffs about to kick off soon starting with Georgia vs Luxembourg - 5pm kick off Then a choice of games kicking off tonight at 7:45pm to choose from: Bosnia vs Ukraine Greece vs Kazakhstan Israel vs Iceland Poland vs Estonia Wales vs Finland Feels good to just be sitting back & relaxed whilst watching these games unfold without any nerves kicking in. I remember how nervous and eventually gutted I was when we got papped out by Ukraine in the World Cup playoff or watching the Irish in the Euro 2016 playoffs with envy having just massively messed up qualification for France in the final few group games.

Went with the below for the Netherlands game: Opted for Gordon as this will be his biggest test since he returned from a long term injury. Gunn is still the number 1 for me but would like to see Gordon playing against an opponent that he’s going to be tested far more against than what he’s faced in recent appearances against Spartans, Airdrie & Morton. Defence & midfield pretty much pick themselves. Also want to give Shankland a start. He’s on form out of the 3 attackers chosen and deserves an opportunity to play against a good side from the start.

No idea what’s up with McKenna if it’s an injury or personal choice that he’s withdrawn

Is it an injury or personal choice? We’ve got enough players to cover at CB plus McLean can fill in there too.

Totally agree. We’ve got a good crop of young players in these setups that can play some decent attacking football. Stark & Gemill don’t seem to prefer that & would rather opt for the “two pass and pump it up the park” approach. Any ideas when either of their contracts come to an end? Hope we get some better coaches at these age groups that will play to their players strength rather than opt for these old fashioned approaches.

Hoping ours is either in Krakow or Poznan

Was just going to post the same. Definitely going to be getting to Hampden a lot earlier just to avoid any potential turnstile issues on the day.

I'm hoping ours is either Poznan or Krakow.

Even if McGregor was available for this upcoming international break, I'd have preffered to have gone with Christie in that deeper midfield role. Midfield is by far the strongest area in the team. I totally agree that we do need to alter our shape from time-time as it can become predictable and better teams will know how to combat it as we seen in the Ukraine play-off and England friendly. As soon as it was known that they had us tactically sussed out on what our game plan was, we had no answer on how to adjust it.

Yeah they do printing in-store. I got my away top & Euro badges printed at the JD Sports store at Fort Kinnaird Edinburgh

Good stuff, hopefully just the start of getting our games on free to air. Hope it's still Rory Currie & Michael Stewart on commentary. Both were a breath of fresh air from the Ian Crocker & David Provan days 🙄

I hope Portugal don't take an absolute age in announcing the venue like their neighbours Spain do 🙄

All Scotland games sold out now

Just wondering how would you be able to sell when the tickets are going to be on the Hampden ticket app rather than sent via e-mail/post? Unless you and your mates are going to hand over your phones to x3 random strangers? 😅

Wait, so even if you already have a ticket for the games (I got mines back in December from the SSC sale), can you purchase additional ones? If so, might just join the queue now and hope I can get a ticket for the Germany game for my dad.

Souttar has been playing regularly for The Rangers and in very good form. If he maintains this & steers well clear of injuries between now and the summer then it’s going to be difficult to not take him. Hanley has just come back from an achilles injury which is not a nice injury and the same sort of injury that saw Ross Stewart have his season ended last season with Sunderland. His game time is being managed just so there is no aggravation. Out of the two, Hanley’s place is probably the one that is most at risk between the two but if he can steer well clear of injuries and get a couple of more good games at Norwich then I reckon Clarke will take him as he seems to be Clarke’s more favourable option when both are available.

Fair enough, thanks for the correction 👍🏽

Yeah I know he’s been capped previously but what I was meaning more is that I didn’t know he had actually stated that he wants to be considered for selection again. The 2 games he was capped for were friendlies therefore leaving the door open for an England call up which is why he has never been named in a competitive international squad as didn’t want to commit to us at the time.

McLean can play at CB as well and has performed well there this season when called upon. Not saying I’d want him to be playing there but versatility would be key. If Fraser was to come in then maybe one of the CB’s drop out? Although not sure what the relationship between him and Clarke is?

I agree with Taylor. Doesn’t seem suited at all to the WB role Clarke prefers. I didn’t know Cairney had expressed an interest in playing for Scotland. Very good player but midfield is without doubt our strongest area in the team. Could possibly come in if McGregor is ruled out for the tournament but nothing so far stating that the injury he has is a bad one. I’d have liked to have seen Ryan Hardie given an opportunity in these two games to see if he can play at this level. Most goals & assists in the English Championship for a Scotsman.

Harvey Barnes still wants to represent England so a Scotland call-up ain’t coming anytime soon as he quoted in the below article published last week. “There’s no reason why, if I get back to having a good run of games and hit my best form, I can’t be back involved in the squad. That’s my dream, to be back involved in there and get myself more caps – that would be amazing.” https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/24159629.newcastle-uniteds-harvey-barnes-injury-battle-england-goals/#

I think Gunn & Gordon are the certainties for Germany barring any injury that rules them out. Gunn is the number 1. Gordon you would take just for the wealth of experience at international level and a very good backup to have. Clarke gave both Kelly & Clark a half each against France and then opted for Clark in the final two group games so you would have thought that was his preferred choice out of the 2. If he plays lets say Clark for the 90 mins against Netherlands and then Kelly the 90 mins for the Northern Ireland game then I will totally get his rationale in the selection but personally can't see it happening.