World Cup squad

[Rossm77]

Delighted Ross Stewart in. Fully expected Ralston, I suppose he is there, as given Hickey and Tierney's injury record there no guarantee they can play 3 games in the two weeks. 

[DesiScotsman]

I thought Bain would have been in the team ahead of Kelly. Gordon must be fully recovered from the injury and hopefully he & Gunn get full 90 minutes in either friendly.

Defence, not too surprised about other than Ralston’s inclusion is a head scratcher. Hanley probably given every minute to prove his fitness that the injury he picked up isn’t anything bad.

Midfield, nothing to say there other than it picks itself

Forward, I wasn’t expecting Stewart & to a lesser extent Curtis as well but happy to see the both of them in. The rest were pretty much expected.

Edited May 19 by DesiScotsman

[NE TA in the weeg]

Just now, DesiScotsman said:

Hanley probably given every minute to prove his fitness that the injury he picked up isn’t anything bad.

Is there scope to change the squad closer to the time for players that fail fitness tests?

You'd think FIFA would have to include that, given how close domestic seasons run until the world cup?

[er yir macaroon]

Clarke explicitly said he would take Miller if he got significant minutes because he wanted to give younger players experience of going to a tournament. I think trouble will be brewing here. 

[mccaughey85]

5 minutes ago, MacGuff said:

Taking Ralston implies that he has doubts about Hickey’s fitness

Also hickey is injury prone.

[DesiScotsman]

2 minutes ago, NE TA in the weeg said:

Is there scope to change the squad closer to the time for players that fail fitness tests?

You'd think FIFA would have to include that, given how close domestic seasons run until the world cup?

Well there is one more match week left for many of these players so I presume so. The deadline to submit the squad is at least one week before the Haiti game so I’d imagine changes can be made if injuries occurs before then.

Edited May 19 by DesiScotsman

[Rossm77]

1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Also hickey is injury prone.

And so is Tierney. 

[mccaughey85]

Really disappointed he hasn't picked burke. Burke has done well this season and his pace would be a real asset.

Apart from that it's pretty much as I  expected. Would liked to have seen gauld in but I think hes been injured.

[Rossm77]

Think you can change a player as injury cover up to 24 hours before your first game. 

[scotlad]

6 minutes ago, MacGuff said:

Taking Ralston implies that he has doubts about Hickey’s fitness

Hickey is in and out of the Brentford team, so it wouldn't surprise me if he does.

I actually worry that Hickey will never get back to the level he was at prior to his injury. 😕

[mccaughey85]

Curtis must be over the moon. Not sure hes deserving of a place in our squad ahead of guys like Morgan or burke. 

Fair play to the lad though. I hope he does well.

[scotlad]

6 minutes ago, DesiScotsman said:

I thought Bain would have been in the team ahead of Kelly. Gordon must be fully recovered from the injury and hopefully he & Gunn get full 90 minutes in either friendly.

Defence, not too surprised about other than Ralston’s inclusion is a head scratcher. Hanley probably given every minute to prove his fitness that the injury he picked up isn’t anything bad.

Midfield, nothing to say there other than it picks itself

Forward, I wasn’t expecting Stewart & to a lesser extent Curtis as well but happy to see the both of them in. The rest were pretty much expected.

I am surprised Bain hasn't made it. He's no great 'keeper but at least he has played regularly this season, and he did well in his cameo against Ivory Coast. Perhaps his injury is worse than we know, or perhaps it's just Clarke being Clarke.

Slightly surprised to see Ross Stewart there but good luck to him.

4 minutes ago, er yir macaroon said:

Clarke explicitly said he would take Miller if he got significant minutes because he wanted to give younger players experience of going to a tournament. I think trouble will be brewing here. 

Miller is another who Clarke doesn't seem convinced by yet. I don't think he's a starter for Udinese but he has had plenty of minutes; I feel a bit sorry for him.

Also, do we really need ten defenders in a 26 man squad??

[mccaughey85]

Bowie must be gutted. Scoring in serie A against the likes of inter and juve should really get you in our squad.

Maybe he might get in if theres an injury over the next week or two.

[Ally Bongo]

Just now, scotlad said:

Also, do we really need ten defenders in a 26 man squad??

When one of them is Anthony Ralston ? 

Shambles to leave out Miller 

[DesiScotsman]

1 minute ago, mccaughey85 said:

Curtis must be over the moon. Not sure hes deserving of a place in our squad ahead of guys like Morgan or burke. 

Fair play to the lad though. I hope he does well.

The writing was on the wall for Burke & also McBurnie too when neither of them made the squads in March for the Japan & Ivory Coast friendlies despite playing consistently well for their clubs. Morgan hasn’t really done anything of late at his new MLS club to warrant a call up and seems to be injured again.

Curtis has played and scored regularly for a club that was struggling and seems like he’s almost single handedly helped keep them up. Very young as well so this experience will do him the world of good.

[mccaughey85]

Just now, DesiScotsman said:

The writing was on the wall for Burke & also McBurnie too when neither of them made the squads in March for the Japan & Ivory Coast friendlies despite playing consistently well for their clubs. Morgan hasn’t really done anything of late at his new MLS club to warrant a call up and seems to be injured again.

Curtis has played and scored regularly for a club that was struggling and seems like he’s almost single handedly helped keep them up. Very young as well so this experience will do him the world of good.

Yeh I am not trying to slag Curtis. He looks like a good prospect but I am wary of hyping up young players who do well in the spl. Seen so many young talents fade out and struggle at a higher level.

Not saying he will be the same but I think burke definitely deserved a place in our squad. 

Either way its mostly the squad I wanted and I don't see how anyone on here can be overly critical of it.

It has all our big guns and theres only 1 or 2 that are left out that you could argue shouldn't be.

[mccaughey85]

Callum McGregor must be kicking himself. He could have been going to a world cup had he not retired.

Would anyone accept him back in if we suddenly had an injury crisis in midfield?

[RanelaghScot]

I'm a bit gutted for Bowie, he's found some form scoring regularly in the Serie A for a struggling team.

Lennon Miller should've been in the squad also.

As a Hibs fan I would've argued for Hanley at the beginning of the season but his form dropped and he is behind Bushiri (who is on the bench for Congo), I hope that's a squad atmosphere pick.  

 

 

 

 

[mccaughey85]

Hopefully Curtis and Stewart get some gametime in these 2 friendlies. Would be good to see what they can do and maybe give Clarke an incentive to play them in the world cup games.

[ceudmilefailte]

2 minutes ago, RanelaghScot said:

I'm a bit gutted for Bowie, he's found some form scoring regularly in the Serie A for a struggling team.

Lennon Miller should've been in the squad also.

As a Hibs fan I would've argued for Hanley at the beginning of the season but his form dropped and he is behind Bushiri (who is on the bench for Congo), I hope that's a squad atmosphere pick.  

 

 

 

 

Agree it’s a squad Clarke has picked not just the best players like I probably would. 
Hopefully he has got it right  

 

[vanderark14]

Happy with that squad, the inclusion of Curtis and Stewart is exactly what the squad needed IMO.

none of the names mentioned like burke, mcburnie, Morgan, or Bowie are any better than the forwards and wingers we have at best they are on a par.

 

[Squirrelhumper]

51 minutes ago, Diamond Scot said:

A million defenders. Why would you take Ralston and leave out Lennon Miller.

We already have Hickey and Patterson at RB plus Tierney and Hendry who would both be better playing there than Ralston.

Even putting aside balance of the team, Millers ceiling is so much higher than Ralston. Even if none of them play, the experience is better given to Miller who is a regular in Italy as opposed to Ralston who is 3rd choice at best for Celtic.

Personally id have also taken Bowie over Hirst but that was never going to happen.

As they play entirely different positions. 

[Squirrelhumper]

43 minutes ago, DesiScotsman said:

I thought Bain would have been in the team ahead of Kelly. Gordon must be fully recovered from the injury and hopefully he & Gunn get full 90 minutes in either friendly.

Defence, not too surprised about other than Ralston’s inclusion is a head scratcher. Hanley probably given every minute to prove his fitness that the injury he picked up isn’t anything bad.

Midfield, nothing to say there other than it picks itself

Forward, I wasn’t expecting Stewart & to a lesser extent Curtis as well but happy to see the both of them in. The rest were pretty much expected.

Bain has been injured.

[scotlad]

31 minutes ago, Ally Bongo said:

When one of them is Anthony Ralston ? 

Shambles to leave out Miller 

It is - he might be our main man in midfield in the not too distant future. He should have gone for the experience alone.

I'd have taken McCrorie ahead of Ralston, who can't get into a Celtic side so poor they barely limped over the line to the title this season, and has been generally poor for Scotland. 

Bowie should also have made the squad too, IMO.

Edited May 19 by scotlad

[romanticscot]

 I am not surprised with the squad, nor disappointed. 10 defenders and its clear why - we have good players who are going to struggle with the demands of big games in close succession - Harley, Tierney, Hickey. If we truly are hard to beat and score against that is what can get you far in a World cup when you dont have reliable forwards who score regular. Delighted for Curtis and Stewart. Also, Im not shocked its Kelly over Bain, you cant have two of the three keepers just getting back to full fitness. I'm sad Miller missed out but he plays in our strongest position. 

Other than Haiti, its going to be tight defending with few chances and if we make it out of our group depending who we play its mostly going to lack in the entertainment department but it will be quite the ride