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Starting XI vs Cyprus


csinclair

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1 minute ago, andyD said:

 

 

No.. no it's not.

Haha what would you change. To be honest, so long as Robbo, McTominay, McGinn, McGregor, Forrest, and Fraser are in the starting line up I'll be happy. I could also convince myself that Souttar and McKenna are my desirable centre half pairing. So there's only 3 spaces I'm not sure about: Keeper, RB, and striker. 

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3 minutes ago, Meagaidh said:

Expecting something like...

vs Cyprus

Bain

O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

McGregor McGinn

Forrest Cairney Fraser

Brophy

 

vs Belgium

O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

McTominay

Forrest McGregor McGinn Fraser

Brophy

We might want to play someone in goal against Belgium

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I'm not too bothered about which 'keeper starts, although I don't think we should be picking League 1 players.

I don't think there is much between the right-back but think O'Donnell gets ahead as he has more caps and has played his best football under Clarke.

Centre-backs are all fairly similar in standard.  I'd go with Mulgrew for experience and his free-kick abilities.  McKenna or Findlay to partner him.

Left-back has to be Robertson.  

I wouldn't complain about any three of Armstrong, Cairney, McGinn, McGregor or McTominay starting in the middle.  Personally I'd go with McTominay as I think he will help protect the defence a bit more than the others, McGInn who should be on a high after the weekend, and Armstrong.  

Fraser and Forrest have got to start in the wide positions.  Great to see Forrest in every XI posted so far.  Fraser, Forrest and McGinn get fouled a lot and that is why I think Mulgrew could be useful. 

None of the forwards get me excited.  I'd be tempted to try Brophy but would understand Burke or Russell getting picked.

So...I think I'd go with -

Bain

O'Donnell     Findlay     McKenna     Robertson

McTominay

McGinn        Armstrong

Forrest                  Brophy                 Fraser

Edited by PASTA Mick
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Having had a day to think about it I would go with the following 

                           Bain

O'Donnell   Souttar  McKenna  Robertson

                McTominay  McGinn

     Fraser    Armstrong     McGregor

                          Forrest

Forrest did pretty well as a makeshift no 9 in CL qualifiers a couple of years ago. Russell, Brophy and Taylor decent options off bench if a change of shape is needed 🤔

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I have thought quite a bit about maybe one of our wingers playing up top as well but McGregor is wasted on the left, and Ryan Fraser is our biggest threat from there, his best position. McGregor is far better in the middle although I'm not sure he is so good that he is a guarantee to start ahead of Armstrong, Cairney or McTominay. Midfield is really tough to pick and up front is a conundrum. I can see the benefit of using Burke up top v Belgium as his pace at least gives Belgium something to think about on the break. Against Cyprus we really need someone good at getting involved with play and linking up, shame we don't have Fletcher and I've not seen much of Brophy so can't comment on him too much, McNulty wasn't great v San Marino. So although his link up play isn't great it is getting better, he is strong and gives us that threat with his pace so I would probably go with Burke to give him some confidence and give him both games, could be a big opportunity for him and a big opportunity to show clubs how good he can be. I'd go with this vs Cyprus

 

                           Marshall

                Mulgrew.      McKenna

O'Donnell.                                   Robertson

                         McTominay

              McGinn.              Cairney

Forrest.                                        Fraser

                               Burke

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8 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

I have thought quite a bit about maybe one of our wingers playing up top as well but McGregor is wasted on the left, and Ryan Fraser is our biggest threat from there, his best position. McGregor is far better in the middle although I'm not sure he is so good that he is a guarantee to start ahead of Armstrong, Cairney or McTominay. Midfield is really tough to pick and up front is a conundrum. I can see the benefit of using Burke up top v Belgium as his pace at least gives Belgium something to think about on the break. Against Cyprus we really need someone good at getting involved with play and linking up, shame we don't have Fletcher and I've not seen much of Brophy so can't comment on him too much, McNulty wasn't great v San Marino. So although his link up play isn't great it is getting better, he is strong and gives us that threat with his pace so I would probably go with Burke to give him some confidence and give him both games, could be a big opportunity for him and a big opportunity to show clubs how good he can be. I'd go with this vs Cyprus

 

                           Marshall

                Mulgrew.      McKenna

O'Donnell.                                   Robertson

                         McTominay

              McGinn.              Cairney

Forrest.                                        Fraser

                               Burke

The three I've picked behind Forrest would be quite narrow tho leaving space for Robertson to exploit. They're also all well capable of switching positions throughout the game, I take your point tho. Your faith in Burke is misplaced however. His second touch is generally a tackle and we can't afford that in these 2 games. 

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I'd go with;

                                                   Marshall 

Palmer                          Souttar            McKenna         Robertson

                                       McGinn           McTominay

Forrest                                     Cairney                          Fraser

                                                 Brophy

 

Thinking behind this is that Marshall is a better keeper than the other 3, simple as that and that Bain gives me the fear. I'd prefer to go with the two young centre-backs so that they can eventually develop a long-term partnership. Palmer had a shitemare in his last game, but hes managed to play at a level for years that was clearly beyond SOD when he was down South...hopefully Palmers last match was just done to nerves or something. McGinn is on an absolute high just now, while McTominays spot should be nailed on. Forrest and Fraser are comfortably our two best wingers, and I'd like to see Cairney in behind the striker to show us what he can do. I'd play Brophy up front, because thats his natural position and he appears to be better than McNulty.

 

I think Clarke will play it safer though and go with;

 

                                                     Bain

O'Donnell                  Souttar            Mulgrew           Robertson

                          McGregor      McTominay  McGinn

Forrest                                                                           Fraser

                                          Russell

 

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23 minutes ago, bazmidd said:

                           Marshall

                Mulgrew.      McKenna

O'Donnell.                                   Robertson

                         McTominay

              McGinn.              Cairney

Forrest.                                        Fraser

                               Burke

A few changes top that. Burke is not a penalty box striker - but he can work the wings, cut in and put in a wicked slide rule passes into the 6 yard box (as can Forrest).

McNulty is a penalty box striker who would lap that up (which he hasn't been getting at Hibs much in the later part of the season). I don't know much of Brophy, but if he can work the 6 yards, then with Forrest and Burke, we could get goals.

So:
 

                           Marshall

                Mulgrew.      McKenna

O'Donnell.                                   Robertson

                         McTominay

              McGinn.              Fraser

Forrest.                                          Burke

                          McNulty          

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8 minutes ago, ONeils4oyarder said:

I'd go with;

                                                   Marshall 

Palmer                          Souttar            McKenna         Robertson

                                       McGinn           McTominay

Forrest                                     Cairney                          Fraser

                                                 Brophy

 

Thinking behind this is that Marshall is a better keeper than the other 3, simple as that and that Bain gives me the fear. I'd prefer to go with the two young centre-backs so that they can eventually develop a long-term partnership. Palmer had a shitemare in his last game, but hes managed to play at a level for years that was clearly beyond SOD when he was down South...hopefully Palmers last match was just done to nerves or something. McGinn is on an absolute high just now, while McTominays spot should be nailed on. Forrest and Fraser are comfortably our two best wingers, and I'd like to see Cairney in behind the striker to show us what he can do. I'd play Brophy up front, because thats his natural position and he appears to be better than McNulty.

 

I think Clarke will play it safer though and go with;

 

                                                     Bain

O'Donnell                  Souttar            Mulgrew           Robertson

                          McGregor      McTominay  McGinn

Forrest                                                                           Fraser

                                          Russell

 

Your hatred of SOD amuses me hahaha

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Guest ElChris04
16 hours ago, Super_Scotlandfan said:

Yeah not convinced myself but Brophy, McNulty or Burke...

Dont think Brophy is your typical poacher forward but his non penalty goal record is not good. For me McNulty hasn’t impressed since he’s been in Scotland and ditto for Burke. 

Got to give Brophy a chance mate, Young, Strong. Composure. Got it all ahead of who we have. Great at penalties. And always finds those areas to strike in. I rate him highly and see him having a massive future for club and country. Agree with McNulty aswell. Was warned with a mate when he was at Sheffield he was shite in important games and he hasn’t disappointed in that perspective. I wouldn’t have even called him up, rather have called up Jack Harper or another attacking midfielder/winger like Mikey Johnstone/ David Turnbull. 

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I actually think Burke can be quite valuable for Scotland. Either as a counter attacking striker, or in the Anya role, where we are hitting teams on the break. He is much more suited to Scotland than he was for Celtic. 

He is never a hold the ball up striker. It's bizarre that he has been used that way. If you put the ball in front of him, his heavy control will be less exposed. If he can fix his first touch, he'll be a serious weapon for Scotland

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2 hours ago, slasher said:

The three I've picked behind Forrest would be quite narrow tho leaving space for Robertson to exploit. They're also all well capable of switching positions throughout the game, I take your point tho. Your faith in Burke is misplaced however. His second touch is generally a tackle and we can't afford that in these 2 games. 

Yeah that is my big worry about Burke is that touch. I do think over the couple of months he spent with Brendan Rodgers he noticeably got better with a run of games. Neil Lennon I'm afraid though just doesn't rate him and Burkes confidence seems to be knocked again. The thing with Burke is he has two quality's which are great, pace and power, then his touch, awareness etc is slightly below average whereas all our other strikers are just very average at basically everything. Question is are Burkes great qualities capable of producing something in the two games to hurt teams. 

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                         Marshall

O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

                  McGinn McGregor

Forrest         Armstrong           Fraser

                          Burke

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10 minutes ago, Bino's said:

                         Marshall

O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

                  McGinn McGregor

Forrest         Armstrong           Fraser

                          Burke

Burke has been rank rotten when he’s managed to get off the bench for Celtic recently.

I would go with Russell (assuming he gets through tonight’s match against LA unscathed) as he must be full of confidence after his hat-trick at the weekend and hopefully he’ll grab a goal or two tonight. 

If Clarke doesn’t fancy trying Russell through the middle then I’d prefer Brophy to Burke. At least he’s been playing. 

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27 minutes ago, Bino's said:

                         Marshall

O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

                  McGinn McGregor

Forrest         Armstrong           Fraser

                          Burke

Like this. Would only tweak it by including Findlay, Taylor and Brophy. And Mulumbu obviously, once his birth certificate is amended to show his Scottish father.

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7 hours ago, ONeils4oyarder said:

 

 

I think Clarke will play it safer though and go with;

 

                                                     Bain

O'Donnell                  Souttar            Mulgrew           Robertson

                          McGregor      McTominay  McGinn

Forrest                                                                           Fraser

                                          Russell

 

Uninspired as I was by Clarkes appointment I think that is about as good as you can get.

The three in midfield are the best equipped to protect the defence which we have to do.  Would McGregor be better than McGinn on the left?

Edited by ceudmilefailte
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5 hours ago, ElChris04 said:

Got to give Brophy a chance mate, Young, Strong. Composure. Got it all ahead of who we have. Great at penalties. And always finds those areas to strike in. I rate him highly and see him having a massive future for club and country. Agree with McNulty aswell. Was warned with a mate when he was at Sheffield he was shite in important games and he hasn’t disappointed in that perspective. I wouldn’t have even called him up, rather have called up Jack Harper or another attacking midfielder/winger like Mikey Johnstone/ David Turnbull. 

Young, Strong and Composure are all good players

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On 5/28/2019 at 2:03 PM, bigfingers said:

My team...

............................Bain

O'Donnell-Souttar-McKenna-Robertson

.............Mcginn-McTorminay

........Forest - McGregor - Fraser

...................Russell

Think this will be it, maybe with a change of goalie.

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6 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

I actually think Burke can be quite valuable for Scotland. Either as a counter attacking striker, or in the Anya role, where we are hitting teams on the break. He is much more suited to Scotland than he was for Celtic. 

He is never a hold the ball up striker. It's bizarre that he has been used that way. If you put the ball in front of him, his heavy control will be less exposed. If he can fix his first touch, he'll be a serious weapon for Scotland

Probably a better option vs Belgium than Cyprus.

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So there's a phenomenon referred to as 'the wisdom of the crowd' whereby if you ask many people to give an answer to a relatively simple question and then take the consensus of the answers, it is often the right answer*. So, because I'm a complete Scotland nerd who is trying to waste some time until the next matches, I thought I'd test this theory on the starting teams that have been posted here. Below are the total votes each player in the squad has gotten from the 19 people who have posted a starting lineup so far:

Andrew Robertson (captain) 19
James Forrest 19
Stephen O'Donnell 18
Ryan Fraser 18
Scott McKenna 16
John McGinn 15
Scott McTominay 15
John Souttar 12
Callum McGregor 11
Scott Bain 8
Stuart Armstrong 8
Eamonn Brophy 8
David Marshall 7
Charlie Mulgrew 7
Tom Cairney 6
Oliver Burke 6
Stuart Findlay 3
Johnny Russell 3
Liam Kelly 2
Marc McNulty 2
Jon McLaughlin 1
Liam Palmer 1
Michael Devlin 0
Greg Taylor 0
Kenny McLean 0
Graeme Shinnie 0
Lewis Morgan 0


Based on these numbers, the TAMB as a collective thinks the starting lineup against Cyprus should be as follows:

                                 Bain

      O'Donnell Souttar McKenna Robertson

Forrest McGregor McTominay McGinn Fraser

                               Brophy

With Armstrong, Mulgrew, and Cairney/Burke on as subs.

 

I'm interested to see how close this is to the starting lineup next Saturday. Don't expect it to be far off to be honest. No love for Devlin, Taylor, McLean, Shinnie, or Morgan on here haha. 
 

 

* for some reason it never seems to work in referenda... 

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