Squad changes for Cyprus - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Squad changes for Cyprus


csinclair

Recommended Posts

1 minute ago, jackhayes17 said:

Sorry but Robertson should not captain us again, doesn't matter if hes playing at the highest level there are players in that squad that are 10x the leader and have 10x the commitment of him

Robertson's missed just 4 of the last 26 games.. how is that a lack of commitment?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, csinclair said:

Just still struggling to get my head around Morgan warranting a call up

The only thing I can think is he must look decent in training, because he has been in a number of times now. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, csinclair said:

Just still struggling to get my head around Morgan warranting a call up

Johnston's still 'injured' else I'm sure he'd be in instead.
Bit late to be calling Russell over from the states probably.

Then we're into people at a similar international level to Morgan.
McKay's not playing for Swansea.
Hastie's been dropped at Rotherham.
Matt Ritchie was asked, i guess, hence his international retirement today.
Matt Phillips still has a niggling injury afaik.
GMS falls into the same boat as Russell.. not worth shipping him over for the bench.

Morgan's at least had a cap.. and he's fit.
A low bar, for sure.
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, andyD said:

Robertson's missed just 4 of the last 26 games.. how is that a lack of commitment?

4 games too many.  He missed Kazakhstan for the dentist!! How many Scotland captains of old would choose a dental procedure over playing for their country in an important game? 

John McGinn should be Scotland captain for the next 10 years

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, jackhayes17 said:

4 games too many.  He missed Kazakhstan for the dentist!! How many Scotland captains of old would choose a dental procedure over playing for their country in an important game? 

John McGinn should be Scotland captain for the next 10 years

haha calm down

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Robertson, who delivered the cross for Liverpool's second goal in the 3-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday, will remain with Steve Clarke's Scotland squad for a couple of days but will not travel to Cyprus for Saturday's match.

McTominay was carried off during Manchester United's 3-1 weekend win over Brighton & Hove Albion, while Fraser played the full 90 minutes of Bournemouth's 2-1 loss at Newcastle United.

Celtic's Morgan is drafted in despite having made just three club appearances since August, while Shinnie has impressed at Derby County since breaking into the team last month.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/50389854

Hm. A chap on TA Facebook is claiming it is common knowledge that Robertson is getting an op. News to me, though. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, AndyDD said:

Hm. A chap on TA Facebook is claiming it is common knowledge that Robertson is getting an op. News to me, though.

Didn't think he needed an op either.

He went off against Genk two weeks ago, and they'd said the injury was niggling and not going away. I assumed this was just a chance to actually rest and get it gone. Probably the best matches to miss for us tbh, if it helps him be 100% for the games that matter in March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, andyD said:

Didn't think he needed an op either.

He went off against Genk two weeks ago, and they'd said the injury was niggling and not going away. I assumed this was just a chance to actually rest and get it gone. Probably the best matches to miss for us tbh, if it helps him be 100% for the games that matter in March.

Aye probably. It really humps us at left back though. Taylor did very well in Brussels, but he was coming off his best ever season. This is him playing for the second time in 3 months. Big difference. 

The idea for these games was to get momentum and build familiarity and relationships to give us best chance to hit the ground running in these two games. This really hampers that. Two of the back four, maybe three of the back four, will be different now. Some of the midfield will be, too. 

Frustrating. Clarke must be beyond livid. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

TBH I'm not fussed about the withdrawals.

Fraser has been off the boil for Bournemouth and what has he done for Scotland of late ; Cooper looks to be an average better, is he any worse than what we have in the squad? ; McTominay is a loss and looks to get better and better.

A year ago we we worried about having two "world class" left backs (aye, a wee bity carried away) but now we don't have one nor a right back for these games. We've got Greg Taylor, but he's not playing at all for Celtic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, weekevie04 said:

TBH I'm not fussed about the withdrawals.

Fraser has been off the boil for Bournemouth and what has he done for Scotland of late ; Cooper looks to be an average better, is he any worse than what we have in the squad? ; McTominay is a loss and looks to get better and better.

A year ago we we worried about having two "world class" left backs (aye, a wee bity carried away) but now we don't have one nor a right back for these games. We've got Greg Taylor, but he's not playing at all for Celtic.

Fraser got an assist at the weekend and it was his ball that got us the winner against Cyprus, as well as the goal against Russia (their keeper needs to take a modicum of responsibility for that, though... )

Apart from that, you're right, nothing of note since the nations league. 

Which I suppose goes for most of the squad. 

Aye, having two outstanding left backs but being unable to play them is typical. Suppose it at least ends those 'how do we get them both into the team' discussions until February/March time. Celtic's reluctance to use Taylor comes back to bite us afterall. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of our best players aren’t playing for various reasons;

Allan McGregor, Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay, Ryan Fraser & Leigh Griffiths 

What a load of absolute pish, we are a complete joke and the interest in the next couple of games has plummeted from zero to whatever comes after that. 
 

Furthermore, in their absence we have called up no young players & our squad is filled with run of the mill SPL players. 
 

Ridiculous. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is becoming brutal.  We really need to get some much needed confidence and momentum going before the playoffs and these 2 games were a great chance to do it.  A fully fit squad should have been more than capable of getting 6 points but now, especially with that defence, I'm worried we may only get a point now!

What rips my knitting most is, with the possible exception of McTominay, all these guys will be playing next week for their clubs.  Fucks me off no end...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, AndyDD said:

Aye probably. It really humps us at left back though. Taylor did very well in Brussels, but he was coming off his best ever season. This is him playing for the second time in 3 months. Big difference. 

The idea for these games was to get momentum and build familiarity and relationships to give us best chance to hit the ground running in these two games. This really hampers that. Two of the back four, maybe three of the back four, will be different now. Some of the midfield will be, too. 

Frustrating. Clarke must be beyond livid. 


I don't think Clarke has any right to be angry about anything.

He's not replaced Cooper, so that suggests he was for the bench anyway.

As for left back, Clarke made the choice to leave out Tierney. Robertson's had an injury for a couple of weeks, so there was always a chance he's withdraw. Taylor's an ok understudy, but it's not like we only have 3 left backs in Scotland. Barry Douglas still turns out for Leeds fairly frequently, or call up someone young for their first taste. Patrick Reading at Middlesborough, Tony Gallagher at Liverpool or Aaron Hickey at Hearts who's been doing well from what I've seen.

I assume Clarke's called up Shinnie to cover left back and defensive mid. It's a lazy call imo. Shinnie's not a left back any more, he's a defensive mid. We should using him as that and only that, especially give what happened last time we stuffed him in at left back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...