Team for israel

[PASTA Mick]

6 hours ago, BraveheartGordon said:

It’s Pasta Mick you’re replying to, he thinks he should be dropped because McGregor is the Rangers GK and Craig Gordon is the Celtic GK.

Im comfortable with both but McGregors been in better form imo and did nothing to get dropped against Albania.

Always preferred Gordon.

In what measure is McGregor in better form?

[JECK]

7 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

I didn't realise Griffiths started Celtic's most recent Europa and Premiership matches, so there absolutely nothing wrong with him? he's in the huff because McLiesh had a go at him.

Well the suggestion is he's been struggling fitness wise. Their was a bust at half time during the Belgium game. Both had tried to phone each other to talk it over in the days after but kept missing each other's call which was wrongly interpreted as Griffiths blanking Eck. I don't believe for one bit  Griffiths wants to chuck it like Boyd and fletcher did. I think Griffiths is probably starting to get paranoid about picking up an injury   (due to lack of fitness)with Scotland then losing his place with Celtic and being back to square one so I think this more of a mental issue going on here. By staying at Celtic working on his fitness and losing some excess pounds he's no apparently been carrying he can be fit and firing on all cylinders come the November fixtures.

[vanderark14]

3 minutes ago, JECK said:

Well the suggestion is he's been struggling fitness wise. Their was a bust at half time during the Belgium game. Both had tried to phone each other to talk it over in the days after but kept missing each other's call which was wrongly interpreted as Griffiths blanking Eck. I don't believe for one bit  Griffiths wants to chuck it like Boyd and fletcher did. I think Griffiths is probably starting to get paranoid about picking up an injury   (due to lack of fitness)with Scotland then losing his place with Celtic and being back to square one so I think this more of a mental issue going on here. By staying at Celtic working on his fitness and losing some excess pounds he's no apparently been carrying he can be fit and firing on all cylinders come the November fixtures.

Ex players have been questioning what fitness he will gain whilst half his club team mates are away on international duty, if its about fitness. why not stay with his scotland team mates and get some proper training? Something doesn't add up. 

His fitness levels were fine to play against a reasonably good Europa league team and then again on the Sunday but not with Scotland. 

As I said, something doesn't add up, I can't be 100% sure but I think he's in the huff because I can't see eck cutting his nose off to spite his face considering we are not blessed with great options upfront. We need Griffiths to play or at least be there as an option. 

 

 

[duncan II]

10 hours ago, RenfrewBlue said:

He shouldn't. He's a far better keeper than Gordon. 

I agree he's the man in possession, has done nothing wrong, is performing well and should therefore start. Your second sentence, however, is silly.

[Caledonian Craig]

31 minutes ago, duncan II said:

I agree he's the man in possession, has done nothing wrong, is performing well and should therefore start. Your second sentence, however, is silly.

I fully agree. At present the No 1 shirt is his. It flip flops between the two. Sometimes I feel McGregor is the better (where I am at present) and others I'd opt for Gordon. Marshall also is certainly one I wouldn't worry about if they needed to call on him. In short we are very well off for top quality keepers at present.

[Bino's]

52 minutes ago, JECK said:

Well the suggestion is he's been struggling fitness wise. Their was a bust at half time during the Belgium game. Both had tried to phone each other to talk it over in the days after but kept missing each other's call which was wrongly interpreted as Griffiths blanking Eck. I don't believe for one bit  Griffiths wants to chuck it like Boyd and fletcher did. I think Griffiths is probably starting to get paranoid about picking up an injury   (due to lack of fitness)with Scotland then losing his place with Celtic and being back to square one so I think this more of a mental issue going on here. By staying at Celtic working on his fitness and losing some excess pounds he's no apparently been carrying he can be fit and firing on all cylinders come the November fixtures.

Excuses

Griffiths is in the wrong

[Bino's]

9 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I fully agree. At present the No 1 shirt is his. It flip flops between the two. Sometimes I feel McGregor is the better (where I am at present) and others I'd opt for Gordon. Marshall also is certainly one I wouldn't worry about if they needed to call on him. In short we are very well off for top quality keepers at present.

Thank christ McGregor is back on form

Gordon has a habit of chucking it in big games

[Caledonian Craig]

10 minutes ago, Bino's said:

Thank christ McGregor is back on form

Gordon has a habit of chucking it in big games

A big exaggeration there. Glad McGregor has the gloves but I'd still be very confident with Gordon and Marshall as well between the sticks. End of.

[PASTA Mick]

15 minutes ago, Bino's said:

Excuses

Griffiths is in the wrong

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

[vanderark14]

surprise surprise. Pasta Mick takes the side of the celtic player - nothing new there

 

maybe Griffiths should man up, take the bollocking and get on with the job he's supposed to do. McLiesh was proven right, Naismith turned out to be the correct choice because he was heavily involved in that win against Albania and was arguably MOTM.

Why wouldn't he stick with Naismith after his good performance?

Its up to Griffiths to take it on board and fight for his place, he seems to be up for the fight at club level but not at international level

Edited October 10, 2018 by vanderark14

[mrniaboc]

1 hour ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

It doesn't have the blue tick because it's from their Facebook page. They only have the tick at the top of the page, not against the article.

Check out @Enrohd_1992’s Tweet: https://twitter.com/Enrohd_1992/status/1046863478328369153?s=09

Oh right. I thought it was a tweet, sorry. Haha morons.

[Caledonian Craig]

10 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

You need to take a step back I reckon. A lot of supposition there with 100% Griffiths bias.

1. We were getting played off the park and McLeish needed to make changes and given Griffiths well-documented lack of fitness he needed fresh legs.

2. Fresh legs again and besides we won so looks like McLeish made the right call.

3. He never told me. Did you expect him to thank Naismith for scoring V Albania by doing an Alan Sugar and saying: 'You're fired!' 

4. Again who is this everyone? I hadn't heard anything about that.

Griffiths withdraws.

5. Perhaps Faddy knows more about the situation than you do. McArthur has given his reasons and never rocked the boat while with Scotland and Fraser is injured. Griffiths is not injured but just does not feel right and withdrew.

6. Finally, I am sorry but McLeish never said any such thing on the matter in the pressers I watched.

So you admit he is probably a complete pain in the arse so that could tie in with him ignoring phone calls. As I said take a step back would be my advice. Just say you are disappointed Griffiths isn't involved and leave it at that as it does seem a lot of his own doing as he withdrew from the squad.

[ProudScot]

34 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

Actually agree with much of this to be honest 

[Squirrelhumper]

58 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said:

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

You fail to mention that no other player is mouthing off about not getting a game, Griffiths is.

He does the same with Celtic, dummy out pram. Saw it last year at Firhill. He's nowhere near fit. Rodgers has eluded to this several times.

Griffiths isn't good enough a player to throw the dummy out the pram just because he's dropped. I'd say it's strong management.

I like how Mulgrew etc have had a wee pop at him (reading through the lines) in recent days.

McLeish never said Naisy would 100% start, try listening to what he says and don't go by headlines.

That said, on current form Naisy should start.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Squirrelhumper

[er yir macaroon]

1 hour ago, PASTA Mick said:

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

Point 4 is incorrect.

[RenfrewBlue]

2 hours ago, duncan II said:

I agree he's the man in possession, has done nothing wrong, is performing well and should therefore start. Your second sentence, however, is silly.

Really? Celtic's defence looked as dodgy as Kyle Lafferty's hair until Boyata came back into the team. Gordon may well have more clean sheets but according to everyone and their wife Rangers are nowhere near as good as Celtic. The defence protecting Gordon, marshalled by Boyata, is the main reason for his clean sheets. 

McGregor is a bit of a nutter sometimes, but is in the form of his life just now. 

Currently he is significantly better than Gordon. It may not last but right now, he's our best keeper. 

[RenfrewBlue]

1 hour ago, PASTA Mick said:

From what I've seen...

1. McLeish and staff lay into Griffiths at HT v Belgium. He is subbed off as if he was the reason we were struggling against a team far superior to us.

2. Griffiths is dropped for the game against Albania. 

3. McLeish tells everyone, a month before the game, that Naismith will start against Israel.

4. McLeish tells everyone that Griffiths has ignored his phone calls. 

Griffiths withdraws.

5. McFadden comes out saying Griffiths shouldn't have withdrawn. Nothing on McArthur, Fraser or any other player.

6. McLeish comes out and says that Griffiths has risked his future with the national side.

I know Griffiths is probably a complete pain in the arse but he's one of our best players in a position we have very few options. It looks like piss-poor management from McLeish. 

Mick, a lot of this is based on the press headlines and not what was actually said. 

The bottom line is Griffiths isn't injured but has pulled out of the squad. 

The reason is immaterial. 

McLeish is within his rights to ignore any player that does this. Although I don't think he will in this instance. 

Realistically if this was the last playoff game to make it to the Euros, do you think Griffiths would have done the same thing? 

[Bino's]

1 hour ago, Caledonian Craig said:

A big exaggeration there. Glad McGregor has the gloves but I'd still be very confident with Gordon and Marshall as well between the sticks. End of.

I'd be more confident with Marshall than Gordon

[Alan]

For Israel it should be the team that started the 2nd half against Albania although I am saying this with little knowledge of Israel or the threat they pose.

 

[vanderark14]

1 hour ago, Squirrelhumper said:

You fail to mention that no other player is mouthing off about not getting a game, Griffiths is.

He does the same with Celtic, dummy out pram. Saw it last year at Firhill. He's nowhere near fit. Rodgers has eluded to this several times.

Griffiths isn't good enough a player to throw the dummy out the pram just because he's dropped. I'd say it's strong management.

I like how Mulgrew etc have had a wee pop at him (reading through the lines) in recent days.

McLeish never said Naisy would 100% start, try listening to what he says and don't go by headlines.

That said, on current form Naisy should start.

great point, we need a manager who is willing to drop those who are not committed. I didn't want eck to get the job but I am warming to him and faddy

[PASTA Mick]

10 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

great point, we need a manager who is willing to drop those who are not committed. I didn't want eck to get the job but I am warming to him and faddy

We need a manager who can get the most out of our limited pool of players.  So far, the evidence is that a lot of our players are not willing to do that for the current manager.  The high number of call-offs suggest this.  We don't have the strength in depth to cope.  We might get away with in against Albania and Israel but not against the better teams we will play in the Euro 2020 qualifiers.  

It's all very similar to Bertie Vogts with Weir; George Burley with McGregor, Ferguson, McCulloch & Boyd and Levein with Fletcher. 

I'm not saying the players in any of these cases weren't at any fault but managers falling out with players usually ends badly for the manager. 

[JECK]

2 hours ago, er yir macaroon said:

Point 4 is incorrect.

Well spotted.

[Third Lanark]

18 hours ago, Bino's said:

Imagine the furore if Kane pulled out to save his fitness for a stetched Tottenham squad

Talk England and Alan Brazil would be going on about it for weeks

Hang on, I thought that for competitive games now under Fifa rules the national associations had priority. Or have i got it wrong?

[duncan II]

4 hours ago, RenfrewBlue said:

Really? Celtic's defence looked as dodgy as Kyle Lafferty's hair until Boyata came back into the team. Gordon may well have more clean sheets but according to everyone and their wife Rangers are nowhere near as good as Celtic. The defence protecting Gordon, marshalled by Boyata, is the main reason for his clean sheets. 

McGregor is a bit of a nutter sometimes, but is in the form of his life just now. 

Currently he is significantly better than Gordon. It may not last but right now, he's our best keeper. 

If you look again at what I wrote, I agree right now he’s better! I’m simply saying I strongly disagree that McGregor is a significantly better keeper than Gordon. I think they are both good, right now McGregor deserves the nod.

[RenfrewBlue]

21 minutes ago, duncan II said:

If you look again at what I wrote, I agree right now he’s better! I’m simply saying I strongly disagree that McGregor is a significantly better keeper than Gordon. I think they are both good, right now McGregor deserves the nod.

Fair enough.