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Caledonian Craig

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46 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

It gives us that bit of diversity up front. Burke is an asset if we are backs to the walls and are limited to hitting teams on the counter. Dykes seems to be pretty good at link up and holding the ball up. But Griffiths is the best striker of the ball we have, so even if he isn't fit for a full 90mins, having his raw ability to conjour up some magic out of nothing will be valuable. Whether that is from setplays or getting 1 decent chance from open play.

I'm certain if both Griffiths and Christie had been fit and playing the past few games, we'd have had a few more shots on target and that stat that keeps getting rolled out would be mute. 

But then if Griffiths and Christie had been playing maybe the opposition would have had more shots on target.

Not sure who you would suggest they replace but neither of them contribute as much defensively as our other options.

Can you see Griffiths winning the ball in the opposition half like Dykes or McBurnie or being in our six yard box to help out at corners.

The only position in the team that is open is Frasers but I would say he is more creative than Griffiths or Christie.

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3 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

But then if Griffiths and Christie had been playing maybe the opposition would have had more shots on target.

Not sure who you would suggest they replace but neither of them contribute as much defensively as our other options.

Can you see Griffiths winning the ball in the opposition half like Dykes or McBurnie or being in our six yard box to help out at corners.

The only position in the team that is open is Frasers but I would say he is more creative than Griffiths or Christie.

That's a fair point and I nearly added that caveat, that I don't know who they could have replaced. At his best, Griffiths would be my choice ahead of Dykes. And that's no slight on Dykes, just how highly I rate a sharp Griffiths.

I think more than anything it gives us excellent options from the bench. Griffiths is the most natural finisher Scotland have, and I would feel more confident with him than anyone else that he'd hit the target if we only got 1 clear chance in the dying minutes of a game. 

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1 hour ago, ceudmilefailte said:

I don't think Shankland has done enough in his step up to the SPL to warrant a guaranteed place in the squad.

Also don't think Griffiths has even played enough football for talk of him making the squad.

Griffiths will probably start the next couple before the international break , if he’s fit and up for it I think he should be included 

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1 hour ago, ceudmilefailte said:

I don't think Shankland has done enough in his step up to the SPL to warrant a guaranteed place in the squad.

Also don't think Griffiths has even played enough football for talk of him making the squad.

He showed today that he can score a goal from nothing and basically dragged his team back in the game with a suberp strike. I would love to see him paired up front with dykes or fraser. 

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I would start with dykes and fraser as our front two...  in the system we now play we can assume that there are only two slots for forward players and no wingers, a centre forward and a second striker. I would play dykes as cf and Fraser ss.

i think Griffiths could play either of these roles.  My order of preference  would be something like

cf - dykes, Griffiths, mcburnie, Shankland

ss - Fraser, Christie, Griffiths, Burke

 

Don’t see how there will be a place in the team for Forrest with no wingers.

 

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3 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

I would start with dykes and fraser as our front two...  in the system we now play we can assume that there are only two slots for forward players and no wingers, a centre forward and a second striker. I would play dykes as cf and Fraser ss.

i think Griffiths could play either of these roles.  My order of preference  would be something like

cf - dykes, Griffiths, mcburnie, Shankland

ss - Fraser, Christie, Griffiths, Burke

 

Don’t see how there will be a place in the team for Forrest with no wingers.

 

We don't have alot of good wingers anyway. Forrest, fraser and burke are about it and burke often plays upfront and forrest has been poor for Scotland. 

Forrest has played rwb for celtic I think so he might get a chance to play there. 

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21 minutes ago, Toepoke said:

Yes I did put up a link stating that in the Belgrade area fans aren't allowed into grounds a week or two ago.

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9 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Recent form of theirs suggests otherwise. 👍

Yeh their recent form is hit and miss but they pulled out the big performance against Norway when it mattered. We are going to need a big performance from some of our so called "star" players to have a chance of going through. 

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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yeh their recent form is hit and miss but they pulled out the big performance against Norway when it mattered. We are going to need a big performance from some of our so called "star" players to have a chance of going through. 

Hmm the same Norway who struggled to beat Northern Ireland you mean?

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1 minute ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Hmm the same Norway who struggled to beat Northern Ireland you mean?

Norways last two results v ni have been 5-1 and 1-0. That's 6-1 v a team who have proven to be quite decent in recent years and have outperformed us. Norway have some quality players as well. 

Whatever way you look at it Serbia have a relatively strong squad and if they perform well on the night it will be very tough for us. 

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4 minutes ago, mccaughey85 said:

Norways last two results v ni have been 5-1 and 1-0. That's 6-1 v a team who have proven to be quite decent in recent years and have outperformed us. Norway have some quality players as well. 

Whatever way you look at it Serbia have a relatively strong squad and if they perform well on the night it will be very tough for us. 

5-1 match was over a year ago now. Stretching it a lot to use that as a yardstick.

And whatever way you look at it Serbia have won one of their last five matches with this 'relatively strong squad' so that alone tells me that we are definitely in with a shout - negative mindsets though and we will lose.

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1 minute ago, Caledonian Craig said:

5-1 match was over a year ago now. Stretching it a lot to use that as a yardstick.

And whatever way you look at it Serbia have won one of their last five matches with this 'relatively strong squad' so that alone tells me that we are definitely in with a shout - negative mindsets though and we will lose.

We are in with a shout but one thing I have learned in the past 20 years of watching Scotland is not to get our hopes up. Theres a reason we haven't qualified for a tournament for 22 years and assuming that we will beat Serbia will only end in heartbreak.

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Just now, mccaughey85 said:

We are in with a shout but one thing I have learned in the past 20 years of watching Scotland is not to get our hopes up. Theres a reason we haven't qualified for a tournament for 22 years and assuming that we will beat Serbia will only end in heartbreak.

I am assuming nothing though. Serbia are a good side but certainly not unbeatable. Yes we will be away but in an empty stadium which is also a leveller and we go into the match as the form team. Yes we can look at their side and say they have players playing for this team and that team but Serbians will be doing the same with us with the likes of Robertson, Tierney, McTominay, Armstrong et al playing in the EPL. And they have a few players playing for home based sides and I'd say recently Celtic and Rangers exploits in Europe have been more notable than Serbian clubs.

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1 hour ago, Caledonian Craig said:

I am assuming nothing though. Serbia are a good side but certainly not unbeatable. Yes we will be away but in an empty stadium which is also a leveller and we go into the match as the form team. Yes we can look at their side and say they have players playing for this team and that team but Serbians will be doing the same with us with the likes of Robertson, Tierney, McTominay, Armstrong et al playing in the EPL. And they have a few players playing for home based sides and I'd say recently Celtic and Rangers exploits in Europe have been more notable than Serbian clubs.

Yeh we have a decent squad ourselves but I would say they have a bit more depth and a better spread of players over different positions. We are quite weak upfront and at centre back compared to them. We will probably start players who play for motherwell and QPR where as I can't see them having to resort to players from teams so poor. 

I am however optimistic but experience of seeing Scotland fail over the last 20 years has made me more realistic about our chances. 

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