Injury Watch

[ger intae them]

Hickey will be leaving it so late, and brentford (like most clubs) have struggled with numerous key players out long term…….. will they let him go to Germany?

[Scotty2Hotty]

8 minutes ago, ger intae them said:

Hickey will be leaving it so late, and brentford (like most clubs) have struggled with numerous key players out long term…….. will they let him go to Germany?

They can't stop him playing for his country

[romanticscot]

Ryan Fraser was injured in March so he will be fighting back to fitness as well. I am really hoping we can get a 26-man squad, it will force Clarke to consider the likes or Fraser, Morgan, Gauld but I full expect to see six goal keepers lol.

[Scotty2Hotty]

23 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

Ryan Fraser was injured in March so he will be fighting back to fitness as well. I am really hoping we can get a 26-man squad, it will force Clarke to consider the likes or Fraser, Morgan, Gauld but I full expect to see six goal keepers lol.

I think we can all agree that Clarke just doesnae fancy Morgan or Gauld and Fraser has fucked it for himself due to his attitude in the past otherwise he would of been in every squad upto now

[BookhouseBoys]

Couple of wee bits from the Liverpool game tonight. Robertson was looking sharp when he came on and produced one of his signature assists for the third. Hopefully that injury is behind him.

Also, noticed Ben Doak on the bench, although not part of the actual match day squad, so maybe he’s getting closer to being back in training.

[Caledonian Craig]

12 hours ago, romanticscot said:

 it will force Clarke to consider the likes or Fraser, Morgan, Gauld 

Will it though? Fraser I might just be able to see getting called up but not Gauld or Morgan who have been nowhere near any squads for a couple of years or more. To make up the 26 it will be Ryan Jack (if fit), Grant Hanley (if fit) and players of that ilk in the running.

Personally, I'd really like one or two of our best youngsters in there promoted from U-21s and tailoring them for promotion to the first team which is bound to come for them.

[theabsentee]

12 hours ago, romanticscot said:

Ryan Fraser was injured in March so he will be fighting back to fitness as well. I am really hoping we can get a 26-man squad, it will force Clarke to consider the likes or Fraser, Morgan, Gauld but I full expect to see six goal keepers lol.

Fraser is fit again, played 70 minutes on Monday for Southampton.    Theres a argument that he should make our 23 man squad nevermind 26. 

[wanderer]

McGregor back in training with Celtic

[romanticscot]

8 hours ago, Caledonian Craig said:

Will it though? Fraser I might just be able to see getting called up but not Gauld or Morgan who have been nowhere near any squads for a couple of years or more. To make up the 26 it will be Ryan Jack (if fit), Grant Hanley (if fit) and players of that ilk in the running.

Personally, I'd really like one or two of our best youngsters in there promoted from U-21s and tailoring them for promotion to the first team which is bound to come for them.

Probably not.  Morgan has scored 5 in 5 this season and is 4th favorite to finish MLS top goal scorer.  I wish he would have given some of the MLS bunch a chance, he called up Johnny Russell a few times who was useful for us. 

[noctonjock]

20 hours ago, BookhouseBoys said:

Couple of wee bits from the Liverpool game tonight. Robertson was looking sharp when he came on and produced one of his signature assists for the third. Hopefully that injury is behind him.

Also, noticed Ben Doak on the bench, although not part of the actual match day squad, so maybe he’s getting closer to being back in training.

Signature assists ? Every cross he hits for Scotland goes way over everyone 

[BookhouseBoys]

21 minutes ago, noctonjock said:

Signature assists ? Every cross he hits for Scotland goes way over everyone 

This is a pretty impressive post for a goldfish..! In the NI, yep, his crossing was all over the place.

He's had plenty of good crosses over the years - only 8 assists might be more to him not always having the same level of targets to aim for, though.

[Tartan blood]

Ben Doak has posted a photo of himself out on the training pitch. No idea if that means his return is imminent or still a while away.

Seems almost impossible that he'll be up for consideration for the Euros. However we were all saying the exact same thing about Gilmour at this stage of the season in 2021...

The possible increased squad size could mean Clarke could put a wildcard up his sleeve.

[Malcolm]

1 hour ago, Tartan blood said:

Ben Doak has posted a photo of himself out on the training pitch. No idea if that means his return is imminent or still a while away.

Seems almost impossible that he'll be up for consideration for the Euros. However we were all saying the exact same thing about Gilmour at this stage of the season in 2021...

The possible increased squad size could mean Clarke could put a wildcard up his sleeve.

I don’t see it. He hasn’t been capped yet and wasn’t even a starter for Liverpool when he was fit?

[N4Footsoldier]

I wish I had some kind of AI that removed any mention of "Ben Doak" and "Euros squad" or "bleed him in" type of chat. It's borderline Ryan Gauld patter at this point.

My guess is that he will be in scope for the squad when he starts playing regularly for Liverpool or another club on loan perhaps at senior level, realistically 6+ months away

[bdgsct]

8 hours ago, N4Footsoldier said:

I wish I had some kind of AI that removed any mention of "Ben Doak" and "Euros squad" or "bleed him in" type of chat. It's borderline Ryan Gauld patter at this point.

My guess is that he will be in scope for the squad when he starts playing regularly for Liverpool or another club on loan perhaps at senior level, realistically 6+ months away

I can understand the debate given he has been u21's most dangerous player. Coupled with a complete lack of pace in our senior squad. Ideally see him do it at club level first but wouldn't be the first time someone of that experience made a senior squad. The return from injury schedule is the biggest negative, otherwise I'd have him in.

[Tartan blood]

9 hours ago, Malcolm said:

I don’t see it. He hasn’t been capped yet and wasn’t even a starter for Liverpool when he was fit?

If you posted this on here 3 years ago and replaced Liverpool with Chelsea, and be talking about Gilmour, it would be identical circumstances.

I wouldn't necessarily write him off completely. However, we do have a significantly bigger and stronger pool of players to choose from now. So pretty unlikely he'd get in the squad unless he did something really dramatic.

[ger intae them]

That’s it tho……. to get in the team at such a young age and with very limited first team appearances you have to do something dramatic, you really have to stand out, and as yet he hasn’t……. apart from in our minds hoping for him to be great.

Right now fraser is a better option.

[Scotty2Hotty]

9 hours ago, ger intae them said:

That’s it tho……. to get in the team at such a young age and with very limited first team appearances you have to do something dramatic, you really have to stand out, and as yet he hasn’t……. apart from in our minds hoping for him to be great.

Right now fraser is a better option.

Just a ridiculous statement, he has been very good considering his age and experience whenever he has played for Liverpool, he is still a young teenager not even 19 yet and is adapating to mens football. 

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:22 AM, N4Footsoldier said:

I wish I had some kind of AI that removed any mention of "Ben Doak" and "Euros squad" or "bleed him in" type of chat. It's borderline Ryan Gauld patter at this point.

My guess is that he will be in scope for the squad when he starts playing regularly for Liverpool or another club on loan perhaps at senior level, realistically 6+ months away

Maybe you should just ignore the chat then considering this is a football forum where these sorts of topics are talked about?

There's no reason why Doak can't be bled into the squad when he is a very talented player playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world under one of the world best coaches and there are potentially 26 places up for grabs and only around 19/20 players actually play

[Tartan blood]

25 minutes ago, Scotty2Hotty said:

Maybe you should just ignore the chat then considering this is a football forum where these sorts of topics are talked about?

There's no reason why Doak can't be bled into the squad when he is a very talented player playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world under one of the world best coaches and there are potentially 26 places up for grabs and only around 19/20 players actually play

Well said. The previous statement about getting regular game time would apply to guys playing for SPFL, championship and lower EPL, maybe.

However, this is a special case. He was in pretty much every match day squad for Liverpool, getting minutes here and there and even had a few starts in cup games. Liverpool's squad is riddled with players that cost up to (or are valued at) £100m. So the fact he was entrusted among all that talent is incredible. 

We'd all be saying the same thing about Barry Hepburn and Liam Morrison if they'd managed to get minutes for Bayern Munich at 17. We did say the same thing about Gilmour at Chelsea. Darren Fletcher also got full caps for us before he was a regular at Man Utd as well. 

Edited April 12 by Tartan blood

[N4Footsoldier]

21 minutes ago, Tartan blood said:

Well said. The previous statement about getting regular game time would apply to guys playing for SPFL, championship and lower EPL, maybe.

However, this is a special case. He was in pretty much every match day squad for Liverpool, getting minutes here and there and even had a few starts in cup games. Liverpool's squad is riddled with players that cost up to (or are valued at) £100m. So the fact he was entrusted among all that talent is incredible. 

We'd all be saying the same thing about Barry Hepburn and Liam Morrison if they'd managed to get minutes for Bayern Munich at 17. We did say the same thing about Gilmour at Chelsea. Darren Fletcher also got full caps for us before he was a regular at Man Utd as well. 

The current players we are talking about are still infants in football terms. Not saying they won't be big players for us but not directly comparable to a Gilmour who made his international debut 9 days before his 20th birthday with more than double the amount of first team appearances as Doak, and a couple of impactful motm performances in there.

Fletcher burst on to the scene when we were desperate and shite and Vogts was giving out caps like sweeties.

I trust Clarke to make the right calls and manage this pipeline of young talent in the right way, until any meaningful issues arise in that respect.

I'm not totally shiting on calls for Doak relative to some shouts. I was on a WhatsApp chat the other day where someone suggested getting Ryan Gauld and Liam Lindsay in the squad for the Gibraltar game and put them in the squad if they do well 🤣

[ceudmilefailte]

39 minutes ago, N4Footsoldier said:

 

I trust Clarke to make the right calls and manage this pipeline of young talent in the right way, until any meaningful issues arise in that respect.

 

I’m not sure how much faith I have in a manager who totally wasted the  recent friendliesv and has gone seven games without a win and  let in  a bucket load of goals

[N4Footsoldier]

16 minutes ago, ceudmilefailte said:

I’m not sure how much faith I have in a manager who totally wasted the  recent friendliesv and has gone seven games without a win and  let in  a bucket load of goals

Bigger picture - we didn't need to win any of the last 7 games. 15 out of 21 wins in competitive fixtures tell a different story.

Whether we are in good form or not, any Scotland team in any condition could go on to lose all 3 of these games at the Euros, but when the cards are down I think Clarke's record speaks for itself. To this point

[BryanBlessed]

43 minutes ago, N4Footsoldier said:

Bigger picture - we didn't need to win any of the last 7 games. 15 out of 21 wins in competitive fixtures tell a different story.

Though I've been disappointed with the last few results, ultimately, except Spain, they were only friendlies or dead rubbers. Part of me is still worried we're in decline but I may just be pessimistic.

 

No matter what they say, players are not pushing themselves to the limit in these games.  I bet De Zerbi was absolutely raging at Gilmour for making that challenge in a friendly.  Having said that, NI was a poor choice of friendly.

 

 

 

[N4Footsoldier]

36 minutes ago, BryanBlessed said:

Though I've been disappointed with the last few results, ultimately, except Spain, they were only friendlies or dead rubbers. Part of me is still worried we're in decline but I may just be pessimistic.

 

No matter what they say, players are not pushing themselves to the limit in these games.  I bet De Zerbi was absolutely raging at Gilmour for making that challenge in a friendly.  Having said that, NI was a poor choice of friendly.

 

 

 

I agree on the poor choice of friendly, Gibraltar especially and to an extent, Finland are pretty bland choices too. Not sure whether that's SFA, Clarke or unavoidable limitations to come to those 2 opponents. Never much transparency on these things minus pish tabloid rumours.

I'd take the recent competitive results with a pinch of salt, one redeeming factor to an extent was the player availability at the time, and we have learned the severe drop in standard between our first XI and the rest. If we are watching Greg Taylor versus wingers of the standard we'll face in the Euros because Robertson/Tierney/Hickey can't stay fit between them then we already know we are in trouble - not to pick on Greg Taylor but just as an example.

I think we all know it could be a difficult year with slightly mitigating circumstances based on player availability and the quality of opponents we will face, but important to remember how far we've come to get to that point rather than being happy competing with 2nd and 3rd tier European sides for a few results and an outside chance of getting ourselves to a tournament.