Scotland vs Slovakia - Match Thread [11/10/2020] - Page 8 - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Scotland vs Slovakia - Match Thread [11/10/2020]


Clyde1998

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1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yeh I get what your saying but I would say 4 years ago we had a about 5 or 6 young players aged 22 or under who you could tell where going to be epl standard players and would be first team regulars in the Scotland team. Fraser, mctominay, Burke, Tierney, Robertson where guys that were clearly special talents by our standards so much so that Tierney, robertson and mctominay basically skipped the u21s and went straight to the first team. 

The list of players you mentioned are good players but I only see Gilmour and Turnbull being guaranteed epl level players in the future. If you compare that with previous group then it's clear that they where a good batch of young players by our standards. 

Its all very well reeling off young players at big European clubs but it means very little when you look at the past players we have had in the youth setups of top clubs. Guys like sammut, mackay Stevens and Harvey St clair, harper etc 

Being at a big club means very little. Better getting first team experience imo. 

 

 

At the end of the day though the bottom line that matters is building a strong squad. Sometimes players develop late and come on strong coming into international contention in their mid-20s and excel for us. On the other side of the coin we've tipped youngsters for big things that have sunk without trace.

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1 hour ago, mccaughey85 said:

Yeh I get what your saying but I would say 4 years ago we had a about 5 or 6 young players aged 22 or under who you could tell where going to be epl standard players and would be first team regulars in the Scotland team. Fraser, mctominay, Burke, Tierney, Robertson where guys that were clearly special talents by our standards so much so that Tierney, robertson and mctominay basically skipped the u21s and went straight to the first team. 

The list of players you mentioned are good players but I only see Gilmour and Turnbull being guaranteed epl level players in the future. If you compare that with previous group then it's clear that they where a good batch of young players by our standards. 

Its all very well reeling off young players at big European clubs but it means very little when you look at the past players we have had in the youth setups of top clubs. Guys like sammut, mackay Stevens and Harvey St clair, harper etc 

Being at a big club means very little. Better getting first team experience imo. 

 

 

Aye, first team experience is vital and I think we’re kind of agreeing with each other. We have a lot of good to excellent, quite young players who are now quite comfortable at international level, such as Robertson, Tierney, Fraser, Christie, Armstrong, McTominay, McGinn mixed with Marshall’s experience and some others who have shown they’re capable of doing a decent job like Gallagher (very solid in all four caps), McKenna, Dykes who is providing the traits we need in a striker with his pace, physicality, ability to hold up play and score. 
 

Most of us have seen enough in Gilmour to know he’s already a good player who looks likely to become a genuine star in our midfield.
 

You’re right that good prospects at youth age groups is only potential and we’ve been wrong about plenty of young players before, but bigger clubs in England and in the continent are buying, loaning and trying to get more of our players than before, so it’s encouraging. But even if only four or five of these current U19s and U21s emerge as first team regulars over the next few years we will have a great blend of talented and experienced players with exciting youths in the senior team. 

Edited by RabtheBruce
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2 hours ago, RabtheBruce said:

Both sides to this discussion are valid. The 21-26-year-olds needed a bit of experience and now have that. For most players, it takes 15-20 caps to properly settle at international level. Haaland and players like him are the exception. Quite possibly Gilmour could be in that category, too. We’ll find out over the next year or so.

Turnbull, Hornby, Patterson, Ashby, McIntyre, Johnson, McCrorie x2, Campbell, Porteous, Mayo and a few others in the current U21s could all become regulars in the senior squad in the next few years, which is encouraging. 
 

We are now on the cusp of seeing the benefits - hopefully- of the Performance Schools. Gilmour’s peers are the first year and we now have many more clubs buying or seriously interested in our young talent, such as Morrison and Hepburn at Bayern, Hickey at Bologna, Fiorini, Adam plus a few others at Man City, King at Rangers etc.
 

It is still unfulfilled talent, yes, but our prospects are looking better than they have for a long time.

The argument I'm seeing here is that over a circa 4-6 year period, we had more players coming through that we could tell would be international class. Looking back, it's easy to say that, but there is no way everyone was in agreement that Fraser and Armstrong, for example, would be class players. Also, we all "knew" Gauld was going to be a superstar by 19. Hindsight is 20:20. I guarantee in 4 or 5 years we'll look back and be having a similar conversation about a new group of players.

But the big difference between now and then is what I've highlighted - the Performance Schools. In the past it's seemingly been down to luck. Now we have made active plans to produce talent. It's very encouraging that we created so many talents the past 6 years without the PA schools. I'm excited to see what comes out of it to bolster our already talented squad.

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