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Showing results for tags 'centre-backs'.
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Obviously in the past few games Steve Clarke has played Scott McTominay as part of a centre-back trio. The two goals we conceded in both games came from situations where a more established cente-back would've probably done better than McTominay and there were chances both Israel and Czech Rep had that came from poor defensive positioning or awareness from McTominay (iirc). Declan Gallagher was the only centre-back option in the squad who wasn't used in either game. Given that he appears to be our only (available) senior centre-back option, it's worrying that McTominay is preferred over him in that position. I'd imagine Grant Hanley would be starting over McTominay if he was fit. In terms of younger players, Ryan Porteous and George Johnston were our two centre-backs for the U21s tonight and both are in their final U21 campaign. Porteous has been in the first team squad before; I think both would be best left in the U21s until the end of their qualifiers (unless they're going to be starting). Ross McCrorie has played a couple of matches at centre-back for Aberdeen this season, but he's predominantly a defensive midfielder (I think he also played right-back for Portsmouth a lot last season). I don't know if Souttar, Findlay or Bates would be better options - they're all certainly younger than Gallagher and may be better for the experience of being in the squad in the long run, even if they don't start ahead of McTominay at centre-back. Of course, not using a centre-back trio is an option, however with how flacky we've been at the back with a pairing I imagine the reason for the three at the back tactic is greater defensive stability with the standard of player we've got at centre-back.