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Scotland Players Who Proved You Wrong


ErsatzThistle

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I think it's fair to say that most of us were very apprehensive (I certainly was) about the prospect of Andy Considine making his Scotland debut at the age of thirty three in our central defence for two "must win" games .........

........... and then after both games a lot of us had him down as having being the man of the match. He was terrific ! :cheers3:

Same goes for Declan Gallagher. Since he was brought in last year as a last minute replacement for the Cyprus away game to murmurs of "aww naw !" from many, he has also done a damn fine job for Scotland. :ok:

Were there any other Scotland players from the past who you simply did not rate and had a sinking feeling when you saw them named in a Scotland XI but who ultimately proved you wrong about their abilities ? 

(let's keep this to internationals, not club football)

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Funnily enough I was texting an Aberdeen supporting mate before Considine's first game saying I was ok with him in the team. Been solid for years and deserved a call up a long time ago,

Conversely I was scathing about playing McTimonnay in defence but that's down to the manger as I think he's a brilliant midfielder, He was poor in his first game and ok in the 2nd (not his fault as he's out of position), but was a lot better last night. I still would prefer him just in front of the defence though. Top player and very important for Scotland for the next 10-12 years.

That hasn't quite answered your question but it was the first (and recent) things that sprung to mind.

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1 hour ago, ceudmilefailte said:

David Marshall. I posted on here after an early blinding games for Celtic in Europe that nobody would remember his first name in a couple of years.

Big Marsh did go through a period where a lot of us might have thought "well he'll never make it". During the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons he played only a tiny handful games for Celtic before transferring to a dreadful Norwich City team which got relegated in his second season there. However he joined Cardiff City thereafter and his career revival began.

I remember posting on here about five years ago that Callum McGregor was nowhere near good enough for Scotland and would never play international football. To date he has twenty four caps.

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From the current squad you can definitely say;

Declan Gallagher - Defends like his life depends on it & id have him starting in a three even in our best three at present

Andy Considine - Great story & well worth a squad place in future. Similar to Gallagher & these two show what it means to play for Scotland and get a call up when few would have touted them for one recently

Lyndon Dykes - he’s a lot better than we thought & perhaps just very effective with the attributes he has making him such a handful, more so than natural ability 

 

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Lyndon dykes. When there was the talk about who he would play for i wasn't arsed at all if he picked us or not. Admittedly i hadn't seen lots of him but just by his stats,age and level hes spent his career at i thought he wouldnt make us any better. Since hes came in hes been excellent. Wins plenty in the air, good at holding the ball up and linking up with others and can grab a goal, hes very neat and tidy. Dont think he will ever be a 20+ goals a season striker but if we continue this system with someone playing off him he will be great for us

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2 hours ago, GraemeTA said:

Lyndon dykes. When there was the talk about who he would play for i wasn't arsed at all if he picked us or not. Admittedly i hadn't seen lots of him but just by his stats,age and level hes spent his career at i thought he wouldnt make us any better. Since hes came in hes been excellent. Wins plenty in the air, good at holding the ball up and linking up with others and can grab a goal, hes very neat and tidy. Dont think he will ever be a 20+ goals a season striker but if we continue this system with someone playing off him he will be great for us

Yeh I was the same, I had watched his goals on YouTube and sportscene but his goal stats wasn't particulary impressive for livi. I wasn't really bothered about him choosing us as I thought he wouldn't get ahead of the strikers we have already.

I am now fully on the dykes bandwagon, guys been an excellent addition to the squad. He's only 25 as well so he will be around for a long time which is good as we usually struggle for decent strikers in our squad. 

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11 hours ago, GraemeTA said:

Lyndon dykes. When there was the talk about who he would play for i wasn't arsed at all if he picked us or not. Admittedly i hadn't seen lots of him but just by his stats,age and level hes spent his career at i thought he wouldnt make us any better. Since hes came in hes been excellent. Wins plenty in the air, good at holding the ball up and linking up with others and can grab a goal, hes very neat and tidy. Dont think he will ever be a 20+ goals a season striker but if we continue this system with someone playing off him he will be great for us

Yep same for me. I thought Dykes would just be another Kevin Kyle/Mackail Smith/Iwelumo type who comes in for 1-2 caps and is never seen again but he's been terrific so far, a real focal point of the attack and loved his assist for Fraser goal.

McBurnie looked much more lively in the last few games and unlucky not to score. Perhaps Griffiths may make next month's squad so the forward options would at least look servicable then.

Going back a decade and I was always waiting for Shaun Maloney to become a focal point of the team but he never really progressed beyond being squad player and the odd good free kick.

Perhaps if he'd stuck it out at Villa longer he might've done it. Did well when he moved back down to play for Wigan.

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11 hours ago, Tartan Chris said:

Yep same for me. I thought Dykes would just be another Kevin Kyle/Mackail Smith/Iwelumo type who comes in for 1-2 caps and is never seen again but he's been terrific so far, a real focal point of the attack and loved his assist for Fraser goal.

McBurnie looked much more lively in the last few games and unlucky not to score. Perhaps Griffiths may make next month's squad so the forward options would at least look servicable then.

Going back a decade and I was always waiting for Shaun Maloney to become a focal point of the team but he never really progressed beyond being squad player and the odd good free kick.

Perhaps if he'd stuck it out at Villa longer he might've done it. Did well when he moved back down to play for Wigan.

Shaun Maloney? Squad player?????

He is 35th on the all time list, by number of caps. He played 47 times for Scotland (which is about 30 times too many IMO :lol: ). That's no my definition of a "squad player".

 

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45 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

Shaun Maloney? Squad player?????

He is 35th on the all time list, by number of caps. He played 47 times for Scotland (which is about 30 times too many IMO :lol: ). That's no my definition of a "squad player".

 

That’s harsh on Maloney; I thought he played well in a lot of games. He also gave us a brilliant moment at Celtic Park with that terrific winner against the Irish. I was near a group of about thirty Irish fans who had been giving us pelters aw game, so I enjoyed celebrating wildly in front of them that night (although when I was in Dublin for the away fixture, the Irish lads were brilliant and great fun on that trip).

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On 10/16/2020 at 1:36 AM, Toepoke said:

Graham Alexander for me. Seemed at first to be one of Berti's scattergun call ups, but turned out to be a reliable fixture in the side for quite a few years.

This is who I was thinking of.  Living in Preston I knew all about him and did not think he'd make the step up.

In the current squad, Liam Cooper is the one that I'm changing my mind on the most.  Big season for him but if he keeps his place in a good Leeds team, I might be eating some humble pie. 

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On 10/15/2020 at 9:30 PM, ErsatzThistle said:

I think it's fair to say that most of us were very apprehensive (I certainly was) about the prospect of Andy Considine making his Scotland debut at the age of thirty three in our central defence for two "must win" games .........

........... and then after both games a lot of us had him down as having being the man of the match. He was terrific ! :cheers3:

Same goes for Declan Gallagher. Since he was brought in last year as a last minute replacement for the Cyprus away game to murmurs of "aww naw !" from many, he has also done a damn fine job for Scotland. :ok:

Were there any other Scotland players from the past who you simply did not rate and had a sinking feeling when you saw them named in a Scotland XI but who ultimately proved you wrong about their abilities ? 

(let's keep this to internationals, not club football)

Although i stuck up for considine, i under estimated both him and Gallagher. Both proved we shouldnt under estimate our players who dont play in the EPL

Two defenders considered to be between average to terrible have shown thats not the case. 

At the end i was chuffed for considine. He will look back on his career with even more pride now

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Calum McGregor has done well in the previous few matches. He can be adventurous when he's been instructed.

Gallagher has been a rock and Consindine did really well. Cooper, too. (Just goes to prove that moving to a three at the back can benefit those standard of players, with all due respect.)

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Just now, Och Aye said:

Off topic but if I was Lyndon Dykes I'd be telling Mark Warburton to keep his trap shut and stop jeopardising his chance of playing in major international tournament. 

I doubt Steve Clarke is taking any notice.

Same with Scott Brown. If we do beat Serbia, Brown will make himself available. There'll be 0% chance that Steve Clarke will take him up on his offer.

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2 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

I doubt Steve Clarke is taking any notice.

Same with Scott Brown. If we do beat Serbia, Brown will make himself available. There'll be 0% chance that Steve Clarke will take him up on his offer.

What is your basis for this assertion?

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2 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

Calum McGregor has done well in the previous few matches. He can be adventurous when he's been instructed.

Gallagher has been a rock and Consindine did really well. Cooper, too. (Just goes to prove that moving to a three at the back can benefit those standard of players, with all due respect.)

In what way do you think Callum McGregor did well?

Specifically looking at the last game, I added Ryan Jack to players I was wrong about. Jack was better than McGregor on every metric, barring pass accuracy. But that is almost certainly because McGregor played more safe passes.

McGregor spent most of the game standing still looking over his shoulder but not marking anyone, closing people down, tackling, or really getting involved even when we had the ball. 

I do think McGregor is talented, but he doesn't seem to get involved in  anything these days.

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4 hours ago, Taylor1996 said:

I doubt Steve Clarke is taking any notice.

Same with Scott Brown. If we do beat Serbia, Brown will make himself available. There'll be 0% chance that Steve Clarke will take him up on his offer.

Brown is well past it now and would struggle to make our bench.

 

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6 hours ago, Barney Rubble said:

What is your basis for this assertion?

The fact that he's retired from international duty twice. It's a guess, but I wouldn't put it past him.

Snodgrass recently did the same, told Clarke that he'll make himself available for future squads. Clarke was having none of it.

6 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

In what way do you think Callum McGregor did well?

Specifically looking at the last game, I added Ryan Jack to players I was wrong about. Jack was better than McGregor on every metric, barring pass accuracy. But that is almost certainly because McGregor played more safe passes.

McGregor spent most of the game standing still looking over his shoulder but not marking anyone, closing people down, tackling, or really getting involved even when we had the ball. 

I do think McGregor is talented, but he doesn't seem to get involved in  anything these days.

Yeah. All fair points.

Specifically, I was thinking more of the Israel match. Not so much the Czech match. Been impressed by Jack, though, that's something that I never thought I'd say.

Because of the new system, I'm sure It will bring out the best in our players, especially the midfielders, as in the middle there won't as much responsibility on them to make long raking passes. That's why teams use the double-pivot.

4 hours ago, ProudScot said:

Brown is well past it now and would struggle to make our bench.

 

Agreed.

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