slasher Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 I'm not too sure why some are trying to change the narrative here on Ralston even resorting to some crystal ball gazing. The facts are that he's been consistently excellent this season playing 21 games and scoring 4 goals. We've picked two full backs ahead of him, one of whom is out of form and another who can't even get a few minutes in the Rangers team. I get Clarkes club/loyalty approach completely but there still has to be a degree of meritocracy about squad selection surely? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirrelhumper Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 6 minutes ago, slasher said: I'm not too sure why some are trying to change the narrative here on Ralston even resorting to some crystal ball gazing. The facts are that he's been consistently excellent this season playing 21 games and scoring 4 goals. We've picked two full backs ahead of him, one of whom is out of form and another who can't even get a few minutes in the Rangers team. I get Clarkes club/loyalty approach completely but there still has to be a degree of meritocracy about squad selection surely? I get that but i'd say the two RB's we have in the squad have more than contributed for Scotland in recent squads. That makes them hard to drop IMO. i get they might not be doing it at club level but SC's job is to put a team out that he knows can/will do a job in a Scotland shirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slasher Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 50 minutes ago, Squirrelhumper said: I get that but i'd say the two RB's we have in the squad have more than contributed for Scotland in recent squads. That makes them hard to drop IMO. i get they might not be doing it at club level but SC's job is to put a team out that he knows can/will do a job in a Scotland shirt. Yes I understand all of that but loyalty has limits. The selection of both of these players is stretching it I feel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 11 minutes ago, slasher said: Yes I understand all of that but loyalty has limits. The selection of both of these players is stretching it I feel. And so too does picking players in form have limits. For years - years - we suffered from the 'flavour of the month' complex: result - no consistency of results, such as we are now seeing. SOD can and will be phased out gradually. As for Ramsay - has he had a good few U21 appearances under his belt, like Patterson had? If not, then why bother with an U21 side at all? He (RamsAy) will play for Scotland for sure but I just don't see the rush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slasher Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 35 minutes ago, Third Lanark said: And so too does picking players in form have limits. For years - years - we suffered from the 'flavour of the month' complex: result - no consistency of results, such as we are now seeing. SOD can and will be phased out gradually. As for Ramsay - has he had a good few U21 appearances under his belt, like Patterson had? If not, then why bother with an U21 side at all? He (RamsAy) will play for Scotland for sure but I just don't see the rush. We're not talking about adopting a flavour of the month mentality here. We're talking about making a change based on merit. Ramsay isn't part of the equation at the moment, as someone pointed out to me on another thread he's currently injured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Squirrelhumper said: Once Celtic have players back/get to January transfer window then JJ will be right back and Ralston on the bench. Maybe, but I doubt it. That was unfortunately the case for Welsh. He only seems to play now when there are injuries. But Celtic currently have about 8 players that can play fullback, and Ralston is front of the queue. Also, he was out with injury for a few weeks and had a slight dip in form upon his return, but still retained his place. He is there on merit and I really don't think Ange will be prioritising right back in the transfer window, when there are far weaker areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csinclair Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 3 hours ago, Tartan blood said: Maybe, but I doubt it. That was unfortunately the case for Welsh. He only seems to play now when there are injuries. But Celtic currently have about 8 players that can play fullback, and Ralston is front of the queue. Also, he was out with injury for a few weeks and had a slight dip in form upon his return, but still retained his place. He is there on merit and I really don't think Ange will be prioritising right back in the transfer window, when there are far weaker areas. The argument though is that he'll prioritise signing a left back and move Juranovic to his natural position at RB at the expense of Ralston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 1 hour ago, csinclair said: The argument though is that he'll prioritise signing a left back and move Juranovic to his natural position at RB at the expense of Ralston That is certainly possible. I'm sticking with optimism and assuming he won't. Not that it matters currently since he isn't even in the Scotland squad. But Ralston could turn out to be SOD's long term replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Scotlandfan Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Does no one think that Ralston’s best position might be right centre back? Particularly in the Scotland system, similar to Tierney’s role. He’d be half decent at stepping forward, has lots of energy and he’s really strong in the air. Although realise he does have mistakes in him but they should be less frequent with age. He’d be back up just now but a good player to cover RCB and RWB. He’s a very obvious replacement for O’Donnell, hopefully this switch will happen next year assuming he’s still playing for Celtic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudScot Posted November 5, 2021 Share Posted November 5, 2021 Liam Henderson starting for Empoli vs Genoa in Serie A on BT Sport tonight, playing well. He’s on free kicks and corners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Scot Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 12 hours ago, Super_Scotlandfan said: Does no one think that Ralston’s best position might be right centre back? Particularly in the Scotland system, similar to Tierney’s role. He’d be half decent at stepping forward, has lots of energy and he’s really strong in the air. Although realise he does have mistakes in him but they should be less frequent with age. He’d be back up just now but a good player to cover RCB and RWB. He’s a very obvious replacement for O’Donnell, hopefully this switch will happen next year assuming he’s still playing for Celtic. Some of the key attributes to rcb are passing, positional sense and knowing when to step out and when to protect. From what ive seen of Ralston this season they arent his strengths. He seems to have high energy, getting up and down the line and has chipped in with some goals and assists. Much more suited to rwb in my opinion. Although saying that I agree with Clarke keeping a settled squad atm. If Ralston is still performing better than ODonnell come March then he deserves to get the call up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanderark14 Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Having arguments about right backs..........this is fucking great. We didn't have any to debate a while back🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 I think Patterson is a better player than ralston. It’s a dilemma for Clarke with Patterson not getting game time, but we look better every time he plays ahead of o donnell. Ultimately I think it will be Patterson and then between ralston and Ramsey for back up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcguffin Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 5 hours ago, vanderark14 said: Having arguments about right backs..........this is fucking great. We didn't have any to debate a while back🤣 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney Rubble Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 4 hours ago, Malcolm said: I think Patterson is a better player than ralston. It’s a dilemma for Clarke with Patterson not getting game time, but we look better every time he plays ahead of o donnell. Ultimately I think it will be Patterson and then between ralston and Ramsey for back up. The dilemma with Patterson is not whether he is better than SOD or Ralston. It is that his club manager does not consider him to be better defensively or offensively than James Tavernier and hence he doesn't get picked. James fucking Tavernier - who no other club is interested in. Let all that sink in and wonder why. Patterson's ability is demonstrable, however it is not sustainable, short-term or long term, for him to be first pick for Scotland while continually getting skelfs on his arse at Ibrox if SOD and Ralston are playing regularly and in decent form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudScot Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 9 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said: The dilemma with Patterson is not whether he is better than SOD or Ralston. It is that his club manager does not consider him to be better defensively or offensively than James Tavernier and hence he doesn't get picked. James fucking Tavernier - who no other club is interested in. Let all that sink in and wonder why. Patterson's ability is demonstrable, however it is not sustainable, short-term or long term, for him to be first pick for Scotland while continually getting skelfs on his arse at Ibrox if SOD and Ralston are playing regularly and in decent form. James fucking Tavernier? One of the best players in the country, I expect there’s probably clubs interested in his to be honest. Patterson just needs a move as last years player of the season and the only right back in Scotland better than Patterson is keeping him out of his club side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProudScot Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 11 minutes ago, Barney Rubble said: The dilemma with Patterson is not whether he is better than SOD or Ralston. It is that his club manager does not consider him to be better defensively or offensively than James Tavernier and hence he doesn't get picked. James fucking Tavernier - who no other club is interested in. Let all that sink in and wonder why. Patterson's ability is demonstrable, however it is not sustainable, short-term or long term, for him to be first pick for Scotland while continually getting skelfs on his arse at Ibrox if SOD and Ralston are playing regularly and in decent form. Also O’Donnell is woefully out of form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 10 minutes ago, ProudScot said: James fucking Tavernier? One of the best players in the country, I expect there’s probably clubs interested in his to be honest. Patterson just needs a move as last years player of the season and the only right back in Scotland better than Patterson is keeping him out of his club side. The only thing against Tavernier is his age; he would not command a huge fee. Plus he is settled in Glasgow and has shown no desire to leave - that must weigh with the manager too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Third Lanark Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Gilmour on the bench again. Beyond a joke now,isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 8 minutes ago, Third Lanark said: Gilmour on the bench again. Beyond a joke now,isn't it? Yeah, but they are winning. Kenny McLean is getting a game though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Russell's Lovechild Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Jacob Brown scores Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 38 minutes ago, Malcolm said: Yeah, but they are winning. Kenny McLean is getting a game though. Which is funny because Gilmour will probably keep him out of the Scotland team. I feel like there must be more to this than just their manager favouring other players over him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcguffin Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 1 hour ago, Tartan blood said: Which is funny because Gilmour will probably keep him out of the Scotland team. I feel like there must be more to this than just their manager favouring other players over him. Yep. Something not quite right. I watched the second half. Caught a glimpse of Billy Gilmour warming up with the Norwich subs at half-time (even got name checked over the tannoy and some polite applause from the fans). Got my hopes up he was coming on. 45 mins of my life I won't get back. (That said, I though Kenny McLean had a good second half). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noctonjock Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 Dykes starting tonight so injury free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ger intae them Posted November 6, 2021 Share Posted November 6, 2021 59 minutes ago, mcguffin said: Yep. Something not quite right. I watched the second half. Caught a glimpse of Billy Gilmour warming up with the Norwich subs at half-time (even got name checked over the tannoy and some polite applause from the fans). Got my hopes up he was coming on. 45 mins of my life I won't get back. (That said, I though Kenny McLean had a good second half). was at the game and best bit of it was watching him warm up at half time 😆 The way he skips over a sprinkler is messi-esque. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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