Scottish players in action 21/22

[thesaint]

McGinn man of the match again apparently. 👍😁

[RDFH64]

21 hours ago, GlasWolf said:

Fabio Silva isn't a wide forward.  He's a striker, albeit a very average one.

After a few months at rangers he’ll be the next in a long line of wide (very) strikers there😜

[Tartan blood]

4 hours ago, todd said:

Yeah but what about his 'hold up play' 🥱🙄

😂

To quote Neil Lennon, when asked if he'll be choosing his goalkeeper based on how good he is at passing the ball, he said "I'll pick the guy who is best at keeping the ball out of the net".

I think this applies to our strikers. As nice as it is to have guys that can hold the ball up well, we should definitely be choosing the guy who is the best at putting the ball in the net. First and foremost.

2 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

It says 17 on transfermarket. Either way I agree hes earned a proper chance in the team especially after bailing us out against Georgia. 

Rangers or Celtic really need to buy him before a championship club comes in. Guys a good goalscorer and probably be perfect for rangers right now.

18 if you include his Scotland goal, which I don't think was counted. Though I could be wrong.

I'd rather Shankland went to Rangers than Celtic, as you'd imagine he'd have a far better chance of getting a game. Unless Kyogo gets snapped up in January and Shankland is his replacement.

[theabsentee]

4 hours ago, syecosse said:

I am also interested who else Carver has hinted at as others as Karlan Grant cannot think of him doing much lately, Binks seems in and out of the Coventry team maybe it's Quansah who would be an exciting prospect or Archie Gray. 

Think you've mentioned Quansah before but I still had to Google him again, seems a very good prospect but hardly see him committing to us through a grandparent when he is only 20 & in the England system.  Gray would be great addition with much stronger links but sadly can't see that happening either .  I love hearing about & following these eligible lads but I know a few posters on here don't so I'm trying to keep my comments about them to a minimum until one actually shows genuine interest in representing us .

[BryanBlessed]

10 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

 

I think this applies to our strikers. As nice as it is to have guys that can hold the ball up well, we should definitely be choosing the guy who is the best at putting the ball in the net. First and foremost.

 

Agreed. If having someone to hold up the ball for your midfield to score was the optimal solution then every team would be doing it.  I doubt Clarke will start Shankland as he tends to be very loyal.

[ProudScot]

13 hours ago, mccaughey85 said:

Both were at fault but I would probably attribute more blame to marshall. No keeper should be that far off his line in that situation. 

Saying that it was a freak goal that  had a huge element of luck and great finishing from the striker.

Hendry wasn’t at fault 😂

[Tartan blood]

45 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

Agreed. If having someone to hold up the ball for your midfield to score was the optimal solution then every team would be doing it.  I doubt Clarke will start Shankland as he tends to be very loyal.

The hold up play is a good compromise. If we had no prolific strikers and they weren't good at hold up play, we might as well play McTominay or McGinn up front.

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes from the last Euros was playing both Dykes and Adams together with a back 5. Such a waste of our midfield talent, and far too much reliance on our fullbacks to create.

[Caledonian Craig]

10 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

The hold up play is a good compromise. If we had no prolific strikers and they weren't good at hold up play, we might as well play McTominay or McGinn up front.

In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes from the last Euros was playing both Dykes and Adams together with a back 5. Such a waste of our midfield talent, and far too much reliance on our fullbacks to create.

I am certain Clarke won't be starting with Dykes and Adams up front in Germany. It will be most likely a 5-4-1 which is able to morph into a 3-5-2 if needs be with wing-backs assisting in attacks and an attacking midfielder supporting tge striker at times.

[thesaint]

3 hours ago, BryanBlessed said:

Agreed. If having someone to hold up the ball for your midfield to score was the optimal solution then every team would be doing it.  I doubt Clarke will start Shankland as he tends to be very loyal.

Loyal is one way to describe it i suppose. 🤔

[adamntg]

1 hour ago, thesaint said:

Loyal is one way to describe it i suppose. 🤔

Yeah, bring back Berti.  He gave boys a chance. 

[Third Lanark]

22 minutes ago, adamntg said:

Yeah, bring back Berti.  He gave boys a chance. 

This is why Clarke's squad is shaping up to be the most successful we've ever had - because he has introduced consistency of selection (Craig Broon tried it but was undermined by injuries). I go back a long way and I remember Willie Ormond saying that building for the future was a myth and he picked those in form on a game by game basis. Result? Our performances were erratic. Imagine if you did that at club level? You need a main core of players whom you can rely on. If someone is out of form, remember that form is temporary; class is permanent. 

[thesaint]

1 hour ago, adamntg said:

Yeah, bring back Berti.  He gave boys a chance. 

Ah! Good old Berti.. Them were the days. 😄

[thesaint]

47 minutes ago, Third Lanark said:

This is why Clarke's squad is shaping up to be the most successful we've ever had - because he has introduced consistency of selection (Craig Broon tried it but was undermined by injuries). I go back a long way and I remember Willie Ormond saying that building for the future was a myth and he picked those in form on a game by game basis. Result? Our performances were erratic. Imagine if you did that at club level? You need a main core of players whom you can rely on. If someone is out of form, remember that form is temporary; class is permanent. 

Sure, but there also has to be a chance for form players to force their way in. Any player that can add something to the team should be included.Obviously the more options we have the better. 

[broraboy]

9 minutes ago, thesaint said:

Sure, but there also has to be a chance for form players to force their way in. Any player that can add something to the team should be included.Obviously the more options we have the better. 

I agree, there will be opportunities for players to come in! 
If a player is better than what we have, then surely a manager has to bring them into the fold 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

 

[BryanBlessed]

10 minutes ago, thesaint said:

Sure, but there also has to be a chance for form players to force their way in. Any player that can add something to the team should be included.Obviously the more options we have the better. 

And it's not like Shankland is a stranger to the squad, either.

The fact he replaced Brown with Dykes against Norway and not Shankland tells me Shankland will be a sparingly used sub at the Euros. I don't see what else he can do to force his way in. His finishes against Hibs and Ross County were outstanding and he scored in a few minutes against Georgia.  On a positive note, Adams looks to be coming back into form. 

 

[BryanBlessed]

6 minutes ago, broraboy said:

I agree, there will be opportunities for players to come in! 
If a player is better than what we have, then surely a manager has to bring them into the fold 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 

 

Shankland is better than Dykes and probably Adams. I think Clarke deserves the benefit of the doubt here though.

[bdgsct]

22 hours ago, broraboy said:

bdgsct - I agree with what you say here……

A big contrast between what Carver + Clarke have to say about Newcastles 4 players (H.Barnes E.Anderson T.Livramento A.Gordon) 

How I see it, I do think H.Barnes had committed to Scotland for the Qualifiers in Sept/Oct/Nov but his foot/toe injury in August put paid to these games and S.Clarke is remaining tight lipped about the situation and now keeping his cards very close to his chest! And quite rightly so, don’t want Engerland + Southgate stirring it up again. Interestingly, I watched a G.Southgate + K.Trippier interview from back in Sept I think it was and G.Southgate was very diplomatic - spoke about Players being linked to 2 or 3 Countries but was non committal about H.Barnes or E.Anderson. And in a way He and Clarke have to be this way when the press are probing with question after question. They don’t want to give the Players false hope and/or damage the current squad of Players they have at that current time. 
Back to H.Barnes, we can only hope he comes back from injury soon and gets called up for our March friendlies, he would 100% add to / improve our attacking options.

As for E.Anderson I’m not sure we’ll ever know the correct answer for him leaving the Scotland Camp?
With him out injured at Newcastle at the moment (back injury I think) but if he was fully fit and on form it would be tough for him to dislodge a Midfielder from our current squad (McGinn McSauce McGregor Gilmour Christie Armstrong McLean Ferguson) Would he be selected for the 23 man squad - Who knows ?? 
 

Tino Livramento now back on the bench for Newcastle, with Burns back at LB and Trippier at RB. I personally think he’s committed with England and preying for that call up for the Senior Squad but if he goes cold between now and March there’s a chance Southgate doesn’t call him up and just maybe just maybe we could come in at the 11th hour and turn him. Would he improve our current squad, absolutely!! 

Whilst we’re on the subject here, A.Gordon as far as I’m aware has never hinted or said anything about switching allegiance? Just the press adding fuel to the fire IMO - Will he be called up for Southgate’s next Squads, I’m thinking No……. 
If R.Sterling doesn’t even make his Squad and J.Grealish sits on the bench for games, I can’t see A.Gordon being called up for Engerland anytime soon! Is he better than what we’ve got, with players in current form? Probably I’d say but at this moment I don’t think he’s on S.Clarkes radar

All we can hope for from our current squad of players - they are all fit, in form and ready for the Euro’s when they come round!! 

I don't see any of those making England's euro squad. Sounds like Barnes has switched. As good a player as he is, he's not very versatile and can only really play on the left of a front 3 which doesn't fit into our shape. I don't see any of the others being in a rush to commit, time will tell in 2/3 years. Gordon is good enough to start as our number 9 in my opinion. He's the only one too old for the under 21's so might be the first to have a decision if he continues to be overlooked.

[syecosse]

Decent assist by Cairney v Arsenal.

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

2 hours ago, syecosse said:

Decent assist by Cairney v Arsenal.

I can see him forcing his way into the squad

[bdgsct]

2 hours ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

I can see him forcing his way into the squad

Would be completely surprised as he's having the best season he's had for a long time. Who would you leave out?

[thesaint]

6 hours ago, BryanBlessed said:

And it's not like Shankland is a stranger to the squad, either.

The fact he replaced Brown with Dykes against Norway and not Shankland tells me Shankland will be a sparingly used sub at the Euros. I don't see what else he can do to force his way in. His finishes against Hibs and Ross County were outstanding and he scored in a few minutes against Georgia.  On a positive note, Adams looks to be coming back into form. 

 

Might just be me but i can't help thinking that Clarke isn't that keen on Shankland. Don't know why that would be but he seems very unwilling to play him even ahead of guys with very little recent good form. However if he keeps scoring i don't think he will have any option but to include him in the Euro squad. 

[syecosse]

3 hours ago, Bobby Russell's Lovechild said:

I can see him forcing his way into the squad

Was Man of the match, sky sports showed that he had a 93% successful pass rate for all of December, 1 goal and 3 assists. 

[Bobby Russell's Lovechild]

12 hours ago, bdgsct said:

Would be completely surprised as he's having the best season he's had for a long time. Who would you leave out?

Ryan Jack

[N4Footsoldier]

I'm pretty sure it's been widely documented/known that Cairney has declared himself unavailable/uninterested for at least the last 5 years.

I don't see what desire he would have being a previously uninterested (English-born if that makes a difference) 32 year old in coming into an unfamiliar squad probably to sit on the bench, when more likely trying to preserve his playing career past the next 1 or 2 seasons at that level. That's even before we think about what kind of message or lack of foresight that would show from Clarke picking such a player.

This bus has long left the station.

Edited January 1 by N4Footsoldier

[BryanBlessed]

17 hours ago, thesaint said:

Might just be me but i can't help thinking that Clarke isn't that keen on Shankland. Don't know why that would be but he seems very unwilling to play him even ahead of guys with very little recent good form. However if he keeps scoring i don't think he will have any option but to include him in the Euro squad. 

It would appear so. I'm not sure why he doesn't seem to rate him but it still could potentially be Dykes/Adams/Christie named as the forwards or Dykes/Adams/Christie/Brown.  He may not fit in with the group but you don't get made captain of your club if you're a bad apple. Like you say, if he keeps up his form he'll have to take him.  I still don't think he'll be at Hearts in a month, though.