News from the Camp

[Morrisandmoo]

Brilliant to see the spirit coming from this team - not just the fight and dominance they showed coming back out at half time (which was classic of Steve Clarke's Killie as well), but they all clearly love being there. Which sounds like a given, but not so long ago we had persistent call-offs ...players moaning about being played out of position etc etc. 

We have a very good manager here and a team that feels on the up. 

 

[BraveheartGordon]

13 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

I’m not sure but artificial pitches shouldn’t be allowed in international football. 

At least our Scotland based players will be used to it but the other guys won’t. 

I still have nightmares about the last time we played on a plastic pitch. 

Think out of our potential starting eleven tomorrow it’s only maybe Hanley who won’t have regularly played on artificial surfaces in their career.

Worth remembering though too that we had one of our best away performances of the last 5-10 years on an artificial surface in Lithuania.

Every youth player coming through now trains and plays on artificial surfaces every week, it definitely changes the way games are played but players won’t make excuses now like they did 20 years ago because kids grow up playing and training on it.

[Orraloon]

14 hours ago, Grim Jim said:

Any of our players have issues on artificial surfaces if we're playing on the Faroes new pitch?

Ryan Fraser probably.

[Tartan blood]

1 hour ago, shug macdiarmid said:

Surely time to shoehorn McT into another position and have him replace Adams up front? After all he plays for the biggest club in the world.... actually removing tongue from cheek that may not be a bad option in this particular match...

I'm not suggesting playing him up front either, but with Adams out, it means we could conceivably play McTominay, McGinn, McGregor and Gilmour in midfield and not have to drop Hendry for Hanley. Play both. 

Obviously I'd prefer a more attacking lineup than that, but in the interest of fairness to the Israel heroes, I wouldn't mind that. At least to start with.

[Caledonian Craig]

The plastic pitch didn't affect Austria on Saturday. They won comfortably 2-0 on it. No excuses for us doing the same either.

[Texas Pete]

2 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

The plastic pitch didn't affect Austria on Saturday. They won comfortably 2-0 on it. No excuses for us doing the same either.

I don’t think it’s a matter of making excuses. I do think it gives the home team a bit of an advantage as most plastic pitches play differently. There’s a reason why Livingston are so hard to beat at home. 

Good thing is around half our starting 11 either play in Scotland or have done fairly recently so they will be used to it and should adapt quickly to the pitch. 

[Caledonian Craig]

4 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

I don’t think it’s a matter of making excuses. I do think it gives the home team a bit of an advantage as most plastic pitches play differently. There’s a reason why Livingston are so hard to beat at home. 

Good thing is around half our starting 11 either play in Scotland or have done fairly recently so they will be used to it and should adapt quickly to the pitch. 

Not enough of an advantage to help them to wins though or draws at home in games they are big underdogs (like tomorrow night). Besides just as much an advantage are the old bumpy, sodden mud heaps they had as pitches in the past.

[Texas Pete]

1 minute ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Not enough of an advantage to help them to wins though or draws at home in games they are big underdogs (like tomorrow night). Besides just as much an advantage are the old bumpy, sodden mud heaps they had as pitches in the past.

Yes, all good points but I would feel a bit more comfortable if we were going to be playing on a nice grass surface tomorrow night. That’s obviously not the case though so the players will just need to get on with it. 

Hopefully none of our players have issues playing on an artificial surface. 

[Caledonian Craig]

Just now, Texas Pete said:

Yes, all good points but I would feel a bit more comfortable if we were going to be playing on a nice grass surface tomorrow night. That’s obviously not the case though so the players will just need to get on with it. 

Hopefully none of our players have issues playing on an artificial surface. 

I think its only natural as a Scotland fan to exam all areas to find areas of concern such as their plastic pitch, our past record against lesser nations away from home, our lack of cutting edge etc etc. I know I am nervous about tomorrow night just because it is us and I'd expect anything but an easy time of it.

To alleviate my fears I am telling myself we are on a winning streak in qualifying matches the like of which we haven't achieved in over 20 years. We are also showing some really encouraging team spirit and belief with a will to fight to the end which has maybe been lacking in recent campaigns. Also we are showing we can deliver results when we need them (Austria and Israel matches). Also we are integrating up and coming talent into the first team which is an upgrade in what we had before in the shape of the likes of Gilmour and Patterson.

[Dodger]

1 hour ago, Orraloon said:

Ryan Fraser probably.

Interesting that he seems to be available for Tuesday but ruled himself out of the Kazakhstan game. 

Will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that whatever injury problem he had 2 years ago is now no longer an issue. 

[romanticscot]

4 hours ago, Dodger said:

Interesting that he seems to be available for Tuesday but ruled himself out of the Kazakhstan game. 

Will give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that whatever injury problem he had 2 years ago is now no longer an issue. 

Thats very decent of you. I reckon Christie will start in place of Adams

[gkm_vancouver]

22 hours ago, Malcolm said:

If we are comfortable by half time I think we will see a number of changes.  Wouldn’t surprise me if we see some anyway.

Not sure if we can take anything out of the latest press conference but it did seem a bit more informative than previously. General pundit opinion on tomorrow's team is that it will either be McTominay or Hendry with Hanley and Tierney at the back or McTominay/McGregor with Christie to replace Adams. The press conference did emphasise the importance of the squad and Clarke does like to keep the whole squad happy - perhaps a thought back to the Croatia game where on reflection, playing the same team for 2 big games may have been asking too much. So there could be more changes from the start. 

 

 

 

 

 

[gkm_vancouver]

Fairly clear the way he us running the squad now. In a  good place at present but conscious of previous slip-ups at this stage in previous campaigns so having a new face could be a good thing to shake things up if the nerves hit again

 

 

[mccaughey85]

1 hour ago, gkm_vancouver said:

Fairly clear the way he us running the squad now. In a  good place at present but conscious of previous slip-ups at this stage in previous campaigns so having a new face could be a good thing to shake things up if the nerves hit again

 

 

He should be fairly chuffed with himself, even if we don't make the world cup hes taken us to a tournament and is probably going to get us to the play offs for the world cup, that is massive progress for us and clarke deserves loads of credit. 

[Malcolm]

3 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

He should be fairly chuffed with himself, even if we don't make the world cup hes taken us to a tournament and is probably going to get us to the play offs for the world cup, that is massive progress for us and clarke deserves loads of credit. 

I think we have definitely progressed and confidence has grown.  Things that I hope for….   Craig Gordon to last another few years as we don’t have a good alternative, Mctominay to play in midfield as he can’t defend, we find a 25 goal a season striker to play with dykes, that can score at least 1 in 3 for us.

[mccaughey85]

29 minutes ago, Malcolm said:

I think we have definitely progressed and confidence has grown.  Things that I hope for….   Craig Gordon to last another few years as we don’t have a good alternative, Mctominay to play in midfield as he can’t defend, we find a 25 goal a season striker to play with dykes, that can score at least 1 in 3 for us.

Lol Xmas is coming up, give that list to santa and see if he delivers. 

I certainly reckon Gordon will last a few more years which is great as it would be nice for him to get to play at a tournament. 

[Texas Pete]

5 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Lol Xmas is coming up, give that list to santa and see if he delivers. 

I certainly reckon Gordon will last a few more years which is great as it would be nice for him to get to play at a tournament. 

We’ll be lucky if Gordon lasts another season. Even if he does he’ll likely not be playing for Scotland. 

Jon McLaughlin will be Rangers number next season and will likely take Gordon’s place as Scotland’s number 1. Zander Clark could also stake a claim. 

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

14 minutes ago, Texas Pete said:

We’ll be lucky if Gordon lasts another season. Even if he does he’ll likely not be playing for Scotland. 

Jon McLaughlin will be Rangers number next season and will likely take Gordon’s place as Scotland’s number 1. Zander Clark could also stake a claim. 

I'd very surprised if Gordon is still going for Scotland at EURO 2024. At that point he'd be 41 going on 42.

I like McLaughlin and he is a solid back up. I'm not sure how he'll do as Rangers number 1. He is decent at pretty much everything but doesn't have a really standout quality and won't make that big Gordon/McGregor save that wins you a game.

It will be interesting to see how Clark keeps developing, he didn't become a number 1 until his mid 20s and has really kicked on these last 2 years. So hopefully he keeps improving.

[ProudScot]

4 minutes ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

I'd very surprised if Gordon is still going for Scotland at EURO 2024. At that point he'd be 41 going on 42.

I like McLaughlin and he is a solid back up. I'm not sure how he'll do as Rangers number 1. He is decent at pretty much everything but doesn't have a really standout quality and won't make that big Gordon/McGregor save that wins you a game.

It will be interesting to see how Clark keeps developing, he didn't become a number 1 until his mid 20s and has really kicked on these last 2 years. So hopefully he keeps improving.

McCrorie is the future GK for Rangers and Scotland I feel. 

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

31 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

McCrorie is the future GK for Rangers and Scotland I feel. 

He looked solid against Celtic, after a poor loan at Live, but we've wasted 6 months of his career sitting him the crowd virtually every game. Hopefully can get a decent morale boosting loan in January.

Hopefully he has a McGregor esq super development when he hits 24/25. McGregor didn't really look like he'd make it at Rangers until then.

[mccaughey85]

11 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

We’ll be lucky if Gordon lasts another season. Even if he does he’ll likely not be playing for Scotland. 

Jon McLaughlin will be Rangers number next season and will likely take Gordon’s place as Scotland’s number 1. Zander Clark could also stake a claim. 

I reckon Gordon will last another two or three years at club level, it will just be a matter of choice whether he decides to keep playing international football. He has the same physique he had when he was 23 and hes still playing well every week for hearts. As long as hes playing for an spl side every week then I am happy for him to be our no. 1. He certainly saved us big time in our last match. Plenty of keepers play til their 40 at a decent level. 

 

 

[mccaughey85]

11 hours ago, ProudScot said:

McCrorie is the future GK for Rangers and Scotland I feel. 

Is he going to be good enough, he's still young but hes not exactly played much top flight football in Scotland so far. Had a short spell at livi and thats it I think. Still time for him to develop but he could do with a move to an spl club where he will play every week. 

[wanderer]

I think Gordon will continue until the next Euro's, as goalkeepers playing into the 40's is hardly anything unusual these days.

I do think though that an approach will be made to Angus Gunn next year though, as England are effectively set for keepers for the next 10 years, his career has stalled at the moment and he will be wrong side of 25.

If he accepts is another thing, but imagine there will be a stronger chance then there has been over the last decade.

[Texas Pete]

1 hour ago, wanderer said:

I think Gordon will continue until the next Euro's, as goalkeepers playing into the 40's is hardly anything unusual these days.

I do think though that an approach will be made to Angus Gunn next year though, as England are effectively set for keepers for the next 10 years, his career has stalled at the moment and he will be wrong side of 25.

If he accepts is another thing, but imagine there will be a stronger chance then there has been over the last decade.

Gordon can continue playing for as long as he wants and for as long as a club will have him but that doesn’t mean he’ll be Scotland’s keeper for the next 3 years. Gordon is only our number 1 now because Rooney had ditched Marshall and likely because McLaughlin is still playing second fiddle to McGregor at Ibrox. His bones will start creaking more when he turns 40 as well so will he even want to continue past next year? I’ll be very surprised if he is even still in our squad after 2022.

Gunn can GTF as far as I’m concerned. He’s already nailed his colours to the English mast and he’s not even that good. 

[Texas Pete]

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Is he going to be good enough, he's still young but hes not exactly played much top flight football in Scotland so far. Had a short spell at livi and thats it I think. Still time for him to develop but he could do with a move to an spl club where he will play every week. 

McCrorie will be an excellent keeper I think. He’s already a very good one. Just needs to manage his career from here and either get a move from Ibrox or force his way ahead of McLaughlin. McGregor won’t be there forever.