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Hickey


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5 hours ago, mcguffin said:

I joked in another thread about Roberto Mancini watching Hickey (okay, the tv cameras showed him at a Bologna game 😉 ). But joking aside, could he be eligible for the Italian team in 3 or 4 years time? (I remember Deco played for Portugal after being a Porto player for a number of years. But I forget how long it was).  There is a precedent 😮

I apologise now, should that joke come back to haunt me 😄


it’s not as far fetched as you might think.  Players are just human with grudges and idiosyncrasies.  Think back to Duncan Ferguson for that.  International football is no big deal for a lot of players now.

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1 hour ago, Malcolm said:


it’s not as far fetched as you might think.  Players are just human with grudges and idiosyncrasies.  Think back to Duncan Ferguson for that.  International football is no big deal for a lot of players now.

If it's no big deal to them...then i certainly don't want them anywhere near my team.

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13 hours ago, Malcolm said:


it’s not as far fetched as you might think.  Players are just human with grudges and idiosyncrasies.  Think back to Duncan Ferguson for that.  International football is no big deal for a lot of players now.

I'd forgotten about Duncan Ferguson. Yes you are right. I guess players are just ordinary folk like the rest of us, with 'grudges and idiosyncrasies' like everyone else. They just happen to be good at football.  It's a sobering thought.


 

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Had a brief glance though this topic, as always plenty sensible posters, some not so ha. 

    For what it's worth i do watch our under 21's when i can but the reality is it is what it is, development level football for young guys that more often than not are not getting regular first team football. When your starting regular football in a elite league i don't see any need to play for your under 21 national team.

    When he keeps his level up or continues to improve he will be in the full squad soon enough then we will realise this debate was much ado about nothing. 

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7 hours ago, theabsentee said:

Had a brief glance though this topic, as always plenty sensible posters, some not so ha. 

    For what it's worth i do watch our under 21's when i can but the reality is it is what it is, development level football for young guys that more often than not are not getting regular first team football. When your starting regular football in a elite league i don't see any need to play for your under 21 national team.

    When he keeps his level up or continues to improve he will be in the full squad soon enough then we will realise this debate was much ado about nothing. 

Fair enough.

Lets test out his desire and name him in the squad today. Sitting here thinking that is the best way to stop this getting messy and drawn out.

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On 3/11/2022 at 8:29 PM, Malcolm said:


it’s not as far fetched as you might think.  Players are just human with grudges and idiosyncrasies.  Think back to Duncan Ferguson for that.  International football is no big deal for a lot of players now.

For me, getting called up by the national team is an honour and an achievement; something to aspire to and be proud of. 

I appreciate that that isn't the case for everyone though and also that many people aren't particularly patriotic, but even if you're just thinking about your career, playing international football at a high level, e.g. at a European Championships or World Cup, is an ideal way of boosting your profile and potentially landing a great move. For the first time in a long time Scotland look like potential qualifiers for major tournaments - any young player with serious ambitions would be crazy to be blasé about accepting a call-up.

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50 minutes ago, scotlad said:

For me, getting called up by the national team is an honour and an achievement; something to aspire to and be proud of. 

I appreciate that that isn't the case for everyone though and also that many people aren't particularly patriotic, but even if you're just thinking about your career, playing international football at a high level, e.g. at a European Championships or World Cup, is an ideal way of boosting your profile and potentially landing a great move. For the first time in a long time Scotland look like potential qualifiers for major tournaments - any young player with serious ambitions would be crazy to be blasé about accepting a call-up.

No if you think that your development is better served at an elite Serie-A club rather than spending a week travelling all over Europe to play at a lower standard. 
 

It’s not unreasonable to reconcile that it is in the best interest of the player and the (full) national team for Hickey to maximise his development, and for that journey to not involve U21 football. 

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11 minutes ago, ProudScot said:

Just name him in the squad. 

Meanwhile Karamoko Dembele has decided he’s from the Ivory Coast now apparently 

Tbh unlike playing for England I am ok with that. Outside of him and his younger brother who was born up here his entire family are from the Ivory Coast. He just happened to be born in England with Ivorian parents and then lived in Scotland his whole live. It was clearly as day why he was playing for England from day 1, with the ivory coast call up its his heritage and family.

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1 hour ago, AlfieMoon said:

No if you think that your development is better served at an elite Serie-A club rather than spending a week travelling all over Europe to play at a lower standard. 
 

It’s not unreasonable to reconcile that it is in the best interest of the player and the (full) national team for Hickey to maximise his development, and for that journey to not involve U21 football. 

I never mentioned U21 football, I was talking about a full call-up.

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Just very unfortunately handled.

If Steve Clarke was intending to call him up then why did Scott Gemmill bother calling him up first? The only reason for that perhaps being Clarke never knew if we were definitely going to have any games this month. The common procedure, I believe, would have been for Clarke to tell Gemmill he intended calling Hickey up for the full team so do not bother selecting him. That did not happen and it caused confusion and bad press. Odd very odd.

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9 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Just very unfortunately handled.

If Steve Clarke was intending to call him up then why did Scott Gemmill bother calling him up first? The only reason for that perhaps being Clarke never knew if we were definitely going to have any games this month. The common procedure, I believe, would have been for Clarke to tell Gemmill he intended calling Hickey up for the full team so do not bother selecting him. That did not happen and it caused confusion and bad press. Odd very odd.

Gemmill seems to be poor at question answering as well as picking a side. Pish coach all round. 

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11 minutes ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Just very unfortunately handled.

If Steve Clarke was intending to call him up then why did Scott Gemmill bother calling him up first? The only reason for that perhaps being Clarke never knew if we were definitely going to have any games this month. The common procedure, I believe, would have been for Clarke to tell Gemmill he intended calling Hickey up for the full team so do not bother selecting him. That did not happen and it caused confusion and bad press. Odd very odd.

Indeed, all looks very unprofessional.

Think Hickey deserves the benefit of the doubt here. Hopefully another quality young player added to our evolving squad.

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2 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Just very unfortunately handled.

If Steve Clarke was intending to call him up then why did Scott Gemmill bother calling him up first? The only reason for that perhaps being Clarke never knew if we were definitely going to have any games this month. The common procedure, I believe, would have been for Clarke to tell Gemmill he intended calling Hickey up for the full team so do not bother selecting him. That did not happen and it caused confusion and bad press. Odd very odd.

I'm thinking that Clarke didn't decide to call him up until after he read this thread. The TAMB has more clout than some folk think.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I didn’t see the Poland game but I found Hickey interesting to watch in Vienna. 
 

Didn’t take any chances. Didn’t waste the ball. At times he was asking for movement/positioning from teammates that just wasn’t there - made me think that he’s playing in a vastly different football culture than the rest of our squad. Will be interesting to see what comes of that, and whether it helps or hinders his prospects for Scotland. 
 

Got to hope that one of his attributes is adaptability given his success in moving to Italy. Would hope that he can integrate with Clarke’s expectations with a bit more work/time. 

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10 hours ago, AlfieMoon said:

I didn’t see the Poland game but I found Hickey interesting to watch in Vienna. 
 

Didn’t take any chances. Didn’t waste the ball. At times he was asking for movement/positioning from teammates that just wasn’t there - made me think that he’s playing in a vastly different football culture than the rest of our squad. Will be interesting to see what comes of that, and whether it helps or hinders his prospects for Scotland. 
 

Got to hope that one of his attributes is adaptability given his success in moving to Italy. Would hope that he can integrate with Clarke’s expectations with a bit more work/time. 

He defo has a very different style to Robertson and Tierney at LWB.

Robertson is all about energy, he tends to get the ball, pass it into a forward and then make the run to receive the ball back.

Tierneys style is more to take the man of himself, normally by dropping a shoulder and knocking the ball into space behind.

Maybe Hickey was just playing it really safe and finding his feet but he had several opportunities to go at the full back but didnt look like he even considered it. Im not sure what his pace is like. He certainly doesnt look slow. As you say, he defo looked like he employs a more possession based approach.

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1 hour ago, Diamond Scot said:

He defo has a very different style to Robertson and Tierney at LWB.

Robertson is all about energy, he tends to get the ball, pass it into a forward and then make the run to receive the ball back.

Tierneys style is more to take the man of himself, normally by dropping a shoulder and knocking the ball into space behind.

Maybe Hickey was just playing it really safe and finding his feet but he had several opportunities to go at the full back but didnt look like he even considered it. Im not sure what his pace is like. He certainly doesnt look slow. As you say, he defo looked like he employs a more possession based approach.

These are good observations. I've seen a few Bologna games, and Hickey certainly does attack on occasion (and even scored some nice goals). But not to the extent of either Tierney or Robertson in their contrasting ways. You could be right, that he was '...playing it really safe and finding his feet...'? But maybe it's part of the mindset of playing in Italy (where good defending seems so highly valued)?  Given that Steve Clarke himself was a defender, I don't think he will see this as a problem.

I wouldn't expect Hickey to start ahead of Robertson/Tierney, but it's certainly reassuring that Clarke has such a great option to turn to?

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The role we play Tierney in, and the way he plays it, makes him our nailed on left centre back. I don't think Clarke would move him to replace Robertson so really Hickey is competing against Taylor to be Robbo's backup.

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31 minutes ago, wee-toon-red said:

The role we play Tierney in, and the way he plays it, makes him our nailed on left centre back. I don't think Clarke would move him to replace Robertson so really Hickey is competing against Taylor to be Robbo's backup.

I think it would depend on who is available at CB.

For example I dont see Clarke putting Cooper on the bench and playing Taylor / Hickey at LWB just to keep Tierney there.

Longer term I think Hickey will make the LWB back up his own and probably get quite abit of game time. He seems like the kind of sub who could come on to shore up the defence. Only issue with that is it would mean taking off the captain.

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3 hours ago, Diamond Scot said:

I think it would depend on who is available at CB.

For example I dont see Clarke putting Cooper on the bench and playing Taylor / Hickey at LWB just to keep Tierney there.

Longer term I think Hickey will make the LWB back up his own and probably get quite abit of game time. He seems like the kind of sub who could come on to shore up the defence. Only issue with that is it would mean taking off the captain.

I'm pretty sure he would. Tierney, in that role, is our best and most effective player so you only move him in desperate, desperate times. Plus Hickey probably is already and definitely will become a better and more effective left wing back than Cooper is a centre back.

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11 minutes ago, wee-toon-red said:

I'm pretty sure he would. Tierney, in that role, is our best and most effective player so you only move him in desperate, desperate times. Plus Hickey probably is already and definitely will become a better and more effective left wing back than Cooper is a centre back.

I'm sure I remember some fairly respected coach saying he thought Hickey might make a very good holding midfield player.

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