Scotland u21 squad. Elliot Anderson returns to the fold

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

Scotland Under-21s Squad

 

Brian Kinnear West Ham United PS

Archie Mair Lincoln City PS *

Cieran Slicker Manchester City

 

Harrison Ashby West Ham United

Tom Clayton Liverpool

Josh Doig Hibernian

Aaron Hickey Bologna

Lewis Mayo Partick Thistle PS **

Adam Montgomery Celtic PS

Stephen Welsh Celtic

 

Elliot Anderson Newcastle United

Scott Banks Crystal Palace PS

Jack Burroughs Ross County ***

Lewis Fiorini Lincoln City ****

Scott High Huddersfield Town

Stephen Kelly Rangers PS

Marc Leonard Brighton & Hove Albion PS

Ben Williamson Livingston **

 

Kai Kennedy Dunfermline Athletic PS **

Stuart McKinstry Leeds United PS

Dapo Mebude AFC Wimbledon PS *****

Glenn Middleton St Johnstone **

Aaron Pressley AFC Wimbledon ******

 

 

PS – Denotes Scottish FA JD Performance School Participant

 

 

* On loan from Norwich City

** On loan from Rangers

*** On loan from Coventry City

**** On loan from Manchester City

***** On loan from Watford

****** On loan from Brentford

[killiefaetheferry]

Anderson is good news. McKinstry is the one I'm excited about. Fringes of the Leeds squad. Closest we have to a genuine prospect at the top level.

[Tartan blood]

5 minutes ago, killiefaetheferry said:

Anderson is good news. McKinstry is the one I'm excited about. Fringes of the Leeds squad. Closest we have to a genuine prospect at the top level.

Is he a striker?

Obviously Gilmour is the most exciting genuine prospect overall. Or are you counting him as no longer a prospect?

[killiefaetheferry]

Gilmour not a prospect any more. McKinstry is a striker. 

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

1 minute ago, Tartan blood said:

Is he a striker?

Obviously Gilmour is the most exciting genuine prospect overall. Or are you counting him as no longer a prospect?

Gilmour is past a prospect. He is our first choice CM.

 

Anderson is a CM

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

1 minute ago, killiefaetheferry said:

Gilmour not a prospect any more. McKinstry is a striker. 

Isn't McKinstry a winger?

[Tartan blood]

1 minute ago, killiefaetheferry said:

Gilmour not a prospect any more. McKinstry is a striker. 

I thought we didn't have any strikers coming through showing promise, so this is great news.

I don't disagree with Gilmour. He is established with us now. Just not at the top level, yet. But he will be.

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

I know Mebude and Middleton can play ST but why isn't Gemmell calling up Urain, Stretton or Joseph. We only really have Pressely as an out and out ST in that team.

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

9 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

I thought we didn't have any strikers coming through showing promise, so this is great news.

I don't disagree with Gilmour. He is established with us now. Just not at the top level, yet. But he will be.

He is years away but watch out for Rory Wilson. Only 15 and scoring regularly for the Rangers u18s. Scored a double for the Scotland u17s yesterday aswell.

 

He turns 16 in January and is being linked with Liverpool and Manchester city.  Probably for the best to head down south early. Gerrard isn't one to give young players a chance. But you then add in that no decent u21 ST has broke through in the SPL in about 10/15 years and it makes it an even larger hill to climb. The last one was probably Garry O'Connor. Griffiths, Shankland, Nesbitt, etc all had to go through the lower leagues.

 

Edited October 28, 2021 by Blantyre_Braveheart

[killiefaetheferry]

22 minutes ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

Isn't McKinstry a winger?

I'm thinking I've read - versatile. Can play as a 10 as well etc. 

[Tartan blood]

3 hours ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

He is years away but watch out for Rory Wilson. Only 15 and scoring regularly for the Rangers u18s. Scored a double for the Scotland u17s yesterday aswell.

 

He turns 16 in January and is being linked with Liverpool and Manchester city.  Probably for the best to head down south early. Gerrard isn't one to give young players a chance. But you then add in that no decent u21 ST has broke through in the SPL in about 10/15 years and it makes it an even larger hill to climb. The last one was probably Garry O'Connor. Griffiths, Shankland, Nesbitt, etc all had to go through the lower leagues.

 

Wasn't Stephen Fletcher after O'Conner? Either way, your point stands. It's a damning indictment that the SPFL hasn't brought through even one since then. It's odd that a lot of the recent names had to drop down a level to get a fair crack of the whip.

Tony Watt looked to be the next shining light. His career derailed significantly after his breakthrough. Maybe with age comes maturity, which a lot have speculated is the reason he didn't take his game to the next level.

[ProudScot]

11 hours ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

He is years away but watch out for Rory Wilson. Only 15 and scoring regularly for the Rangers u18s. Scored a double for the Scotland u17s yesterday aswell.

 

He turns 16 in January and is being linked with Liverpool and Manchester city.  Probably for the best to head down south early. Gerrard isn't one to give young players a chance. But you then add in that no decent u21 ST has broke through in the SPL in about 10/15 years and it makes it an even larger hill to climb. The last one was probably Garry O'Connor. Griffiths, Shankland, Nesbitt, etc all had to go through the lower leagues.

 

Wilson should jump at the chance, look at what it did for Gilmour

[er yir macaroon]

20 hours ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

He is years away but watch out for Rory Wilson. Only 15 and scoring regularly for the Rangers u18s. Scored a double for the Scotland u17s yesterday aswell.

 

He turns 16 in January and is being linked with Liverpool and Manchester city.  Probably for the best to head down south early. Gerrard isn't one to give young players a chance. But you then add in that no decent u21 ST has broke through in the SPL in about 10/15 years and it makes it an even larger hill to climb. The last one was probably Garry O'Connor. Griffiths, Shankland, Nesbitt, etc all had to go through the lower leagues.

 

I don’t think it will be all that long till a senior breakthrough if his form holds. Physically he looks as if he could play first team now, so I’d imagine a debit at 16 or 17 is possible (on loan maybe). He reminded me of Alan Shearer, although a bit taller. 

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

17 hours ago, Tartan blood said:

Wasn't Stephen Fletcher after O'Conner? Either way, your point stands. It's a damning indictment that the SPFL hasn't brought through even one since then. It's odd that a lot of the recent names had to drop down a level to get a fair crack of the whip.

Tony Watt looked to be the next shining light. His career derailed significantly after his breakthrough. Maybe with age comes maturity, which a lot have speculated is the reason he didn't take his game to the next level.

You're right it was Fletcher. 12 years ago was when he left Hibs for Burnley.

I think for years there was this archetype of a ST in the SPL.

Big, strong, hard working and with a bit of pace. Basically a English lower league haddy. We seem to be seeing less of them in the last couple of years.

With Watt I felt he got overhyped a bit too much due to that goal. He still had a lot of potential but I think people expected too much from him after his goal and he maybe couldn't handle the expectations.

I remember Snoddy saying being overhyped and linked with big clubs affected him and his game after that u19 euro run. Took a while to recover.

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

19 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

I don’t think it will be all that long till a senior breakthrough if his form holds. Physically he looks as if he could play first team now, so I’d imagine a debit at 16 or 17 is possible (on loan maybe). He reminded me of Alan Shearer, although a bit taller. 

I really hope so, we desperately need a ST coming through. We seem to have quite a few promising players (16-19) in every other position outside ST and GK.

[Tartan blood]

26 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

I don’t think it will be all that long till a senior breakthrough if his form holds. Physically he looks as if he could play first team now, so I’d imagine a debit at 16 or 17 is possible (on loan maybe). He reminded me of Alan Shearer, although a bit taller. 

I'm not doubting his ability, and haven't seen him play, but I'm always a bit dubious when it comes to early bloomers. The ones that are more physically developed than the rest. It gives them an advantage going through the levels. Then, a lot of the time, they are found out when the rest catch up.

Islam Feruz comes to mind. Though quite short, he was clearly stronger than everyone else at his age range. There was also that big bear of a Centre half. Jules, was it? He could bully everyone around him but was showed up for being an awful footballer when he was expected to make the step up.

[Tartan blood]

13 minutes ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

You're right it was Fletcher. 12 years ago was when he left Hibs for Burnley.

I think for years there was this archetype of a ST in the SPL.

Big, strong, hard working and with a bit of pace. Basically a English lower league haddy. We seem to be seeing less of them in the last couple of years.

With Watt I felt he got overhyped a bit too much due to that goal. He still had a lot of potential but I think people expected too much from him after his goal and he maybe couldn't handle the expectations.

I remember Snoddy saying being overhyped and linked with big clubs affected him and his game after that u19 euro run. Took a while to recover.

 

12 years ago?! That's even worse than I imagined. 

[er yir macaroon]

51 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

I'm not doubting his ability, and haven't seen him play, but I'm always a bit dubious when it comes to early bloomers. The ones that are more physically developed than the rest. It gives them an advantage going through the levels. Then, a lot of the time, they are found out when the rest catch up.

Islam Feruz comes to mind. Though quite short, he was clearly stronger than everyone else at his age range. There was also that big bear of a Centre half. Jules, was it? He could bully everyone around him but was showed up for being an awful footballer when he was expected to make the step up.

I agree it can be a concern. Wilson is 15 and playing against u18s every week, so I hope this compensates for his physical advantage a bit. That said, I still think he’ll be very powerful at senior level. I haven’t  seen enough to comment on his pace or technique, which I think will determine how far he goes. 

[scotlad]

22 hours ago, Blantyre_Braveheart said:

I know Mebude and Middleton can play ST but why isn't Gemmell calling up Urain, Stretton or Joseph. We only really have Pressely as an out and out ST in that team.

Good question.  Stretton hasn't featured for Derby lately, so he's possibly injured, but Joseph has been playing regularly for Cheltenham and has scored a few goals too.  Urain I am not sure about.

[Blantyre_Braveheart]

32 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

I agree it can be a concern. Wilson is 15 and playing against u18s every week, so I hope this compensates for his physical advantage a bit. That said, I still think he’ll be very powerful at senior level. I haven’t  seen enough to comment on his pace or technique, which I think will determine how far he goes. 

He has good technique. He plays as an inside forward for Rangers u18s at times.

Edited October 29, 2021 by Blantyre_Braveheart

[Tartan blood]

1 hour ago, er yir macaroon said:

I agree it can be a concern. Wilson is 15 and playing against u18s every week, so I hope this compensates for his physical advantage a bit. That said, I still think he’ll be very powerful at senior level. I haven’t  seen enough to comment on his pace or technique, which I think will determine how far he goes. 

Well that's highly encouraging. Height-wise, that at least removes most of the benefit he'll have over other 15 year olds. But if he's scoring against people 2-3 years older than him, that is very promising. 

Wasn't there some 15 year old that was supposedly scoring like 60+ goals a season in Scotland that signed for Wolves. That was quite a few years ago now and I've not heard anything since. I can't remember his name, though I think I'd recognise it if I saw it. 

My point being, I always reserve judgement based on how often I've been burned in the past. 

[er yir macaroon]

5 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

Well that's highly encouraging. Height-wise, that at least removes most of the benefit he'll have over other 15 year olds. But if he's scoring against people 2-3 years older than him, that is very promising. 

Wasn't there some 15 year old that was supposedly scoring like 60+ goals a season in Scotland that signed for Wolves. That was quite a few years ago now and I've not heard anything since. I can't remember his name, though I think I'd recognise it if I saw it. 

My point being, I always reserve judgement based on how often I've been burned in the past. 

Yes, Jordan Allan was his name.

I totally agree there is no guarantee Wilson will make it, my point is that it won’t be waiting for him to fill out that will delay him.  Physically he looks almost there, I’ve no idea how he’ll progress though. Maybe a Man City-type move could work in his favour with more development time, rather than too much, too young. 

[syecosse]

Found an article from the guardian that look at there 20 generational talents every year, they feature a number of young Scots in there but none seem involved lately that I can remember and there are 3 strikers in there Dickson 7 goals in 10 games for Norwich u23s this season, Burnley u23 strike force Mcglynn and Mellon(son of former Dundee u manager), others include blu-everton on loan at Yeovil, Brennan Camp Bournemoth defender and Gordon defender Brentford. Hopefully they all kick on especially the strikers. 

[syecosse]

U21s On bbc Internet, currently 1-0 Scotland Fiorini with a nice goal. 

[er yir macaroon]

Some nice play from our midfielders in this game. A very different set up compared with the usual industrial stuff from Gemmil.