Tartan_McCole Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I don't believe playing 20 minutes for the first time in a few weeks quite equates to being fit. If he's not match fit and still recovering then we shouldn't be taking him just for the sake of it. Plenty of other players in that area of the pitch that will be far more useful. He'll get his chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion Rampant Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Squad is pretty much as expected, hopefully we have no call offs and we are at full strength for the Israel game. I'm not overly concerned about Cairney not being there, he's been out for a while and our main game is in 10 days. He's going to be well short of match fitness and even if he were to play 90mins at the weekend he probably wouldn't be fit to start in Israel anyway. I'd rather we had a player in there who was 100% fit that we could rely on to play the full 90mins if required. If he's not in the squad next month after playing regularly for Fulham then I would suggest that there is something else to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Agree with above, at this moment Cairney not being there is no concern, but if he is playing week in-week out ahead of the next squad and not there, then it would be a big concern. No point taking a player who, at best, will have played 120 minutes of football over the previous month after coming back from the injury that had ruled him out of the last squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I think Johnny Russell will start if he is fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrniaboc Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, bazmidd said: McGregor Souttar. McKenna. Tierney O'Donnell. Robertson McTominay McGregor. Cairney Fraser Griffiths I love the look of this team, but we'll have to wait a while to see it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazmidd Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Tartan_McCole said: I don't believe playing 20 minutes for the first time in a few weeks quite equates to being fit. If he's not match fit and still recovering then we shouldn't be taking him just for the sake of it. Plenty of other players in that area of the pitch that will be far more useful. He'll get his chance. Agree with this but it is strange when Mulgrew hasn't played the last 4 games for his club either but yet has been called up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 19 minutes ago, mrniaboc said: I love the look of this team, but we'll have to wait a while to see it. Naismith has to be in.... he is the form striker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er yir macaroon Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 19 minutes ago, mrniaboc said: I love the look of this team, but we'll have to wait a while to see it. McGinn needs to stay in the side. He needs experience, but he can be our best midfielder since Barry Ferguson. His tackling is quite unbelievable and he sets the tempo for the whole team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, Squirrelhumper said: No complaints with that squad. for the first time in a long time, I am the same.....................apart from James Forrest but I've come to terms with it 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan_McCole Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, bazmidd said: Agree with this but it is strange when Mulgrew hasn't played the last 4 games for his club either but yet has been called up We're not exactly blessed with a fantastic defence, so I'm willing to give McLeish the benefit of the doubt on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 6 hours ago, wanderer said: (though Snodgrass seems to have hit some form in last few weeks, so chance he might be picked this time (rather than wait for call off's) and he might even start). Not sure were this has come from but he is getting hardly any game time for a poor West Ham team and apart from a couple of goals against Macclesfield reserves he hasn't scored a goal. Suppose it is the experienced players on the bench idea, but frankly I hate that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 22 minutes ago, bazmidd said: Agree with this but it is strange when Mulgrew hasn't played the last 4 games for his club either but yet has been called up I think McKenna and Mulgrew get in because of lack of options whereas Cairney has plenty of similar standard players to compete with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 19 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said: Not sure were this has come from but he is getting hardly any game time for a poor West Ham team and apart from a couple of goals against Macclesfield reserves he hasn't scored a goal. Suppose it is the experienced players on the bench idea, but frankly I hate that. Granted he has only be coming on for last 20 minutes or so in last few weeks (Bar Cup game) but heard he has looked very lively when he has came on (certainly offering more than Yarnalenko from what I am reading/hearing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion Rampant Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, bazmidd said: Agree with this but it is strange when Mulgrew hasn't played the last 4 games for his club either but yet has been called up From what I understand (I might be wrong here) we did try and call him up but Fulham said he wasn't available for selection. With that in mind there doesn't seem to be any inconsistency from our side of things, he would have been in the squad had his club released him. As I said, if we're in this position in November on the back of him playinf regularly then we can worry about it then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orraloon Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, vanderark14 said: for the first time in a long time, I am the same.....................apart from James Forrest but I've come to terms with it 😂 I haven't. Heed doon, run like fuk, swing a leg at the baw and see what happens. And that's if he hasn't run out pitch before he swings it. Edited October 1, 2018 by Orraloon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyD Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Overall a good squad from McLeish. No one in it who shouldn't be an no glaring absences aside from a 2nd right back. I guess the thinking is that we could shuffle Fraser or Forrest into the RWB slot if playing 352/343. Still, I'd like a backup in case we want to drop to a back 4 at some point. The 11 for me: McGregor Souttar - McKenna - Tierney O'Donnell - Armstrong - McDonald - Robertson Fraser - Naismith - Griffiths Hard to know exactly how Israel will set up, they change formations a lot. They played all of last year with a flat back 4, then in the last round of fixutres (Albania and NI) they switched to a 352/532. 3 forwards against their back 3 will pull their midfield back, meaning Armstrong and McDonald should boss an emptied midfield. Could bringing McGregor for McDonald if things are going well. This should leave their two forwards isolated with 3/4 of our players looking after them. Hemed is decent and Dabbur has 13 in 15 for his club. So isolating them will do us the world of good. We don't want them getting chances. NI beat them 3-0 recently, and limited them to 5 shots, 2 on target. Feels like the best way to limit their chances is to push them back up the field. Their only real players of quality are in midfield and attack, so if we can keep the game in their half as much as possible we should be fine and run out winners by a couple of goals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyD Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Still think we should have found a spot for Dobbie tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazmidd Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 2 hours ago, Malcolm said: Naismith has to be in.... he is the form striker. Griffith's is also on form Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccaughey85 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 38 minutes ago, andyD said: Overall a good squad from McLeish. No one in it who shouldn't be an no glaring absences aside from a 2nd right back. I guess the thinking is that we could shuffle Fraser or Forrest into the RWB slot if playing 352/343. Still, I'd like a backup in case we want to drop to a back 4 at some point. The 11 for me: McGregor Souttar - McKenna - Tierney O'Donnell - Armstrong - McDonald - Robertson Fraser - Naismith - Griffiths Hard to know exactly how Israel will set up, they change formations a lot. They played all of last year with a flat back 4, then in the last round of fixutres (Albania and NI) they switched to a 352/532. 3 forwards against their back 3 will pull their midfield back, meaning Armstrong and McDonald should boss an emptied midfield. Could bringing McGregor for McDonald if things are going well. This should leave their two forwards isolated with 3/4 of our players looking after them. Hemed is decent and Dabbur has 13 in 15 for his club. So isolating them will do us the world of good. We don't want them getting chances. NI beat them 3-0 recently, and limited them to 5 shots, 2 on target. Feels like the best way to limit their chances is to push them back up the field. Their only real players of quality are in midfield and attack, so if we can keep the game in their half as much as possible we should be fine and run out winners by a couple of goals. Replace McDonald with McGinn or McGregor and that would be our best team imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Pete Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 4 hours ago, bazmidd said: More questions have to be asked of Tom Cairneys exclusion tbh. Eck has tried to claim there is nothing sinister about it and Fulham have just said he is unavailable, although he played 20 mins at the weekend for them so he is obviously fit. He may not be quite up to speed yet and still recovering maybe from the injury but these games are two weeks away! He must be fit enough by then surely We’ll see what happens for the two games in November. I can understand Fulham not wanting to risk him at this stage. They will have their own plan to ease him back in to the starting line up and won’t want the international break to interfere with it. The first game is 10 days away and the squad will meet up a week today. Fulham probably want their physios to keep an eye on him for longer than the next week. Of course he could have asked Fulham to say this in the hope he gets a call up from England next month but I doubt it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyBlueScot Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Souttar, McKenna and Tierney. I wouldn't mind at all if that was our back three (if we chose that formation) for the next 8-10 years. Even then there's bound to be others to challenge them (Porteous for example). Got to feel positive about that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borojock Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, andyD said: Overall a good squad from McLeish. No one in it who shouldn't be an no glaring absences aside from a 2nd right back. I guess the thinking is that we could shuffle Fraser or Forrest into the RWB slot if playing 352/343. Still, I'd like a backup in case we want to drop to a back 4 at some point. The 11 for me: McGregor Souttar - McKenna - Tierney O'Donnell - Armstrong - McDonald - Robertson Fraser - Naismith - Griffiths Hard to know exactly how Israel will set up, they change formations a lot. They played all of last year with a flat back 4, then in the last round of fixutres (Albania and NI) they switched to a 352/532. 3 forwards against their back 3 will pull their midfield back, meaning Armstrong and McDonald should boss an emptied midfield. Could bringing McGregor for McDonald if things are going well. This should leave their two forwards isolated with 3/4 of our players looking after them. Hemed is decent and Dabbur has 13 in 15 for his club. So isolating them will do us the world of good. We don't want them getting chances. NI beat them 3-0 recently, and limited them to 5 shots, 2 on target. Feels like the best way to limit their chances is to push them back up the field. Their only real players of quality are in midfield and attack, so if we can keep the game in their half as much as possible we should be fine and run out winners by a couple of goals. I think we need to go out with the mindset of winning this match Israel not a great team New manager who has very little management experience and played 2 and lost 2 with Israel Bad record at the ground played 6 won 2 and lost 6, lost the last 3 at this ground Last 9 games lost 7, drew 1 and won 1 - played 9 scored 3 of which 1 was a pen and a last min goal to draw against Moldova at home Some key players missing through injury Marciano and Bitton as well as a couple of there abroad based player If we win this i think it puts us in a real strong position to win the group i'd go for the below McGregor McKenna - Souttar - Tierney O'Donnell - McGinn - Armstrong - Robertson Naismith - Griffiths - Fraser I think Souttar best passer so would play him in the middle and let him wander a little bit Fraser i think better suited to the left of attacking 3 and Griff best finisher out of 3 so would play him in the middle Also i think McGinn offers us much more than McDonald however would be worried about being a little bit lightweight with McGinn and Armstrong as the centre 2 but as you say if you attack them i think there midfield would be close to their defense Looking forward cant wait for the game, as long as we get the win dont care about the Portugal game result Edited October 1, 2018 by borojock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekevie04 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 TBH, no complaints with the squad and happy to see so many SPFL players in there. Not that I'm a chest-pumping Scots-born/bred squad ; but its very nice to see a squad with 'proper' Scots in there too. I'm not Eck's biggest fan, but he gets us 3pts in Israel then fair dues and if we win this group ; then he deserves a lot of credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fringo Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 7 minutes ago, borojock said: I think we need to go out with the mindset of winning this match Israel not a great team New manager who has very little management experience and played 2 and lost 2 with Israel Bad record at the ground played 6 won 2 and lost 6, lost the last 3 at this ground Last 9 games lost 7, drew 1 and won 1 - played 9 scored 3 of which 1 was a pen and a last min goal to draw against Moldova at home Some key players missing through injury Marciano and Bitton as well as a couple of there abroad based player If we win this i think it puts us in a real strong position to win the group i'd go for the below McGregor McKenna - Souttar - Tierney O'Donnell - McGinn - Armstrong - Robertson Naismith - Griffiths - Fraser I think Souttar best passer so would play him in the middle and let him wander a little bit Fraser i think better suited to the left of attacking 3 and Griff best finisher out of 3 so would play him in the middle Also i think McGinn offers us much more than McDonald however would be worried about being a little bit lightweight with McGinn and Armstrong as the centre 2 but as you say if you attack them i think there midfield would be close to their defense Looking forward cant wait for the game, as long as we get the win dont care about the Portugal game result Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
er yir macaroon Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 (edited) 14 minutes ago, borojock said: I think we need to go out with the mindset of winning this match Israel not a great team New manager who has very little management experience and played 2 and lost 2 with Israel Bad record at the ground played 6 won 2 and lost 6, lost the last 3 at this ground Last 9 games lost 7, drew 1 and won 1 - played 9 scored 3 of which 1 was a pen and a last min goal to draw against Moldova at home Some key players missing through injury Marciano and Bitton as well as a couple of there abroad based player If we win this i think it puts us in a real strong position to win the group i'd go for the below McGregor McKenna - Souttar - Tierney O'Donnell - McGinn - Armstrong - Robertson Naismith - Griffiths - Fraser I think Souttar best passer so would play him in the middle and let him wander a little bit Fraser i think better suited to the left of attacking 3 and Griff best finisher out of 3 so would play him in the middle Also i think McGinn offers us much more than McDonald however would be worried about being a little bit lightweight with McGinn and Armstrong as the centre 2 but as you say if you attack them i think there midfield would be close to their defense Looking forward cant wait for the game, as long as we get the win dont care about the Portugal game result McKenna is left footed so he shouldn't go there. McGinn is strong as an ox. Edited October 1, 2018 by er yir macaroon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.