Players To Make An Impact

[er yir macaroon]

I think our chances of qualifying for the World Cup with the same squad of players are nil. This time next season I'm hoping Lewis Macleod is in the team (although he has a lot of catching up to do). He's got a real goal threat and lots of talent. I suspect O'Halloran might be there too, with Steven Fletcher playing slightly deeper. A lighting quick, physical player should get the best out of Fletcher and give him more room to pick passes. I just hope O'Halloran doesn't end up at Celtic. I'm not sure if Gauld will be ready by next season but he could challenge Maloney if he gets in the Sporting A team. Barry Mackie has an outside chance along with Nicholson and Christie. I've given up on Tony Watt. Anyone else to go into the first 11 or are we stuck with the same lot?

[PASTA Mick]

The four Ryan's - Jack, Fraser, Gauld and Christie. They could all end up in the squad for the next campaign.

Hopefully Jack Harper can make an impact at Brighton. If things go well, he could be playing in the Premier League next season.

There are plenty of decent players in the SPFL that could step up a level and take a chance.

[er yir macaroon]

The four Ryan's - Jack, Fraser, Gauld and Christie. They could all end up in the squad for the next campaign.

Hopefully Jack Harper can make an impact at Brighton. If things go well, he could be playing in the Premier League next season.

There are plenty of decent players in the SPFL that could step up a level and take a chance.

Forgot about Ryan Fraser. Yes, he has a chance - two footed and very quick.

The tippy tappy stuff didn't quite come off for us, you need better players for it to work consistently. With pace and power you can still win on an off day and that's what we need. I'm not talking about big athletes with a poor touch btw.

[Bzzzz]

The more I see of Sam Nicholson the more I think he's got something. One to watch I think.

[hannibal smith]

The more I see of Sam Nicholson the more I think he's got something. One to watch I think.

I do like Sam but I think he needs to more consistent before he gets a call up. I think Paterson will be the first one to be capped out of the current crop, his development over the last two years has been amazing.

[giblet]

John McGinn looks the real deal, can see him knocking on the door in a couple of years if he progresses from how he is playing now.

I think Paterson is a certainty for right back for us. Still think we are looking short of impact players coming in for next campaign, looks like the one after will be where we have a number coming to peak.

[wanderer]

Strachan seems to be praising Callum Paterson a lot this morning in the media, so he is one I expect will start making a few more squads.

[LewisEDI]

John McGinn looks the real deal, can see him knocking on the door in a couple of years if he progresses from how he is playing now.

McGinn is class, will be in the squad before jack is.

[Parklife]

LewisEDI, on 10 Nov 2015 - 12:34 PM, said:

McGinn is class, will be in the squad before jack is.

Yeah, loads of class players make free transfer moves to the Scottish 2nd tier.

[andyD]

Don't really see any of these being realistic options in a years time. Ryan Fraser is the only one who looks like being even vaguely close to pushing for a place and he's got a massive task to get ahead of the likes of Anya, Ritchie, Snodgrass, Maloney, Bannan, just to make it into a squad, let alone an 11.

We don't need a massive overhaul of personnel. Especially not i the plan is to replace them with inexperienced 19 year olds. Did Berti Vogts take over a bunch of people's accounts on here or something?

[Parklife]

andyD, on 10 Nov 2015 - 1:32 PM, said:

We don't need a massive overhaul of personnel.

Yeah, i thought that as i watched pretty much the same group of players we've had for the past 6 years fail to qualify yet again...

[LewisEDI]

Yeah, loads of class players make free transfer moves to the Scottish 2nd tier.

the difference between the leagues is marginal if you remove celtic out of it, as proven by the resounding pumpings hibs have dished out to aberdeen and utd on their way towards lifting the league cup.

[Parklife]

LewisEDI, on 10 Nov 2015 - 1:49 PM, said:

the difference between the leagues is marginal if you remove celtic out of it, as proven by the resounding pumpings hibs have dished out to aberdeen and utd on their way towards lifting the league cup.

[andyD]

Yeah, i thought that as i watched pretty much the same group of players we've had for the past 6 years fail to qualify yet again...

sigh..

the keepers are all fine. no changes there.

the defense. we have no other options really. robertson will probably play more, hutton maybe a little less, but hutton is still the best right back we have. we all (wgs included) have hope for paterson, but he's not ready yet and needs bought in slowly.

wide men. ritchie's done well, anya's absence is always noticed. Snodgrass is coming back, bannans been superb for his club this season and maloney just bagged a handful of goals.

central mid. brown, mcarthur, mulgrew and morrison are better than anyone else we have.. by a distance. you can argue the merits of scott brown, i think he has a place and is a useful player. fulton, cairney etc are all still a ways off it seems.

up top. fletch seems to have turned a corner, 7 in 7 for him at the moment. naismith's useful. rhodes, griffiths and mccormack are streets ahead of the rest. the idea of playing 2 goal o'halloran ahead of 18 goal griffiths seems questionable at best.

I'm not saying we're awesome or the finished article. far from it. but we can't go shooting ourselves in the foot with change for changes sake. throwing in young players for them to get battered by england, slovakia and slovenia will not help them, nor will it help us. we can bring in a few players around the place, build them up, give them experience, but wholesale changes would be crazy.

the main changes i want are (1) a higher tempo game when we dont have the ball. defend from the front and press them early. our defense is dodgy, so defend while the ball is away from the defense, instead of the 'defend and counter' that we've been doing, which exposes our defensive shortcomings every time. (2) no more fletcher+naismith. it doesn't work. got 2 up top, e.g. fletcher + rhodes, or with a breaking midfielder, morrison, snodgrass, potentially armstrong.

if you're gonna talk about making big changes, let's hear who you're dropping and why the guy you're putting in should be there.

"change everything cos we're rank" isn't a reason.

[norsefox]

Don't really see any of these being realistic options in a years time. Ryan Fraser is the only one who looks like being even vaguely close to pushing for a place and he's got a massive task to get ahead of the likes of Anya, Ritchie, Snodgrass, Maloney, Bannan, just to make it into a squad, let alone an 11.

We don't need a massive overhaul of personnel. Especially not i the plan is to replace them with inexperienced 19 year olds. Did Berti Vogts take over a bunch of people's accounts on here or something?

Of course we don't need a massive overhaul, but routinely giving players their debuts at 25 is hardly utilising the best of youth is it?

Every other home nation is doing a FAR better job at introducing youth than we are. And that includes England, a team that has for years played the exact same 11 for every tournament.

We should have 3 or 4 18-22 year olds in every squad with someone given the opportunity to be considered in every double header.

What's the point of stockpiling 28-33 year olds as 12 of the 23 if they'll gain 5 caps (if any!) and then thank them very much and send them on their way?

[er yir macaroon]

sigh..

the keepers are all fine. no changes there.

the defense. we have no other options really. robertson will probably play more, hutton maybe a little less, but hutton is still the best right back we have. we all (wgs included) have hope for paterson, but he's not ready yet and needs bought in slowly.

wide men. ritchie's done well, anya's absence is always noticed. Snodgrass is coming back, bannans been superb for his club this season and maloney just bagged a handful of goals.

central mid. brown, mcarthur, mulgrew and morrison are better than anyone else we have.. by a distance. you can argue the merits of scott brown, i think he has a place and is a useful player. fulton, cairney etc are all still a ways off it seems.

up top. fletch seems to have turned a corner, 7 in 7 for him at the moment. naismith's useful. rhodes, griffiths and mccormack are streets ahead of the rest. the idea of playing 2 goal o'halloran ahead of 18 goal griffiths seems questionable at best.

I'm not saying we're awesome or the finished article. far from it. but we can't go shooting ourselves in the foot with change for changes sake. throwing in young players for them to get battered by england, slovakia and slovenia will not help them, nor will it help us. we can bring in a few players around the place, build them up, give them experience, but wholesale changes would be crazy.

the main changes i want are (1) a higher tempo game when we dont have the ball. defend from the front and press them early. our defense is dodgy, so defend while the ball is away from the defense, instead of the 'defend and counter' that we've been doing, which exposes our defensive shortcomings every time. (2) no more fletcher+naismith. it doesn't work. got 2 up top, e.g. fletcher + rhodes, or with a breaking midfielder, morrison, snodgrass, potentially armstrong.

if you're gonna talk about making big changes, let's hear who you're dropping and why the guy you're putting in should be there.

"change everything cos we're rank" isn't a reason.

Has anyone suggested wholesale changes? No. We do need freshening up, especially with pace upfront and invention from midfield. I'd hope for one or two new players in our starting 11 with another couple in the squad.

[ProudScot]

Of course we don't need a massive overhaul, but routinely giving players their debuts at 25 is hardly utilising the best of youth is it?

Every other home nation is doing a FAR better job at introducing youth than we are. And that includes England, a team that has for years played the exact same 11 for every tournament.

We should have 3 or 4 18-22 year olds in every squad with someone given the opportunity to be considered in every double header.

What's the point of stockpiling 28-33 year olds as 12 of the 23 if they'll gain 5 caps (if any!) and then thank them very much and send them on their way?

Yes

[Parklife]

norsefox, on 10 Nov 2015 - 2:32 PM, said:

Of course we don't need a massive overhaul, but routinely giving players their debuts at 25 is hardly utilising the best of youth is it?

Every other home nation is doing a FAR better job at introducing youth than we are. And that includes England, a team that has for years played the exact same 11 for every tournament.

We should have 3 or 4 18-22 year olds in every squad with someone given the opportunity to be considered in every double header.

What's the point of stockpiling 28-33 year olds as 12 of the 23 if they'll gain 5 caps (if any!) and then thank them very much and send them on their way?

That's pretty much how i feel. We're consistently overlooking our young players and not even giving them a chance. Even guys like Johnny Russell who do get called up hardly ever get a chance to show what they can do. The friendly against Qatar and our final match vs Gibraltar were pathetic selections.

[hannibal smith]

the difference between the leagues is marginal if you remove celtic out of it, as proven by the resounding pumpings hibs have dished out to aberdeen and utd on their way towards lifting the league cup.

the same marginal gap there was between first and second in the championship last season?

[andyD]

Macaroon: "Has anyone suggested wholesale changes? No."

err.. parklife's reply was pretty clearly saying that he did thing we needed big changes. So, yes.

We should have 3 or 4 18-22 year olds in every squad with someone given the opportunity to be considered in every double header.

Isnt that exactly what strachan's been doing? While at the same time trying to make a senior side which has a hope.

He gave Robertson his debut and he's had 8 caps now, on the verge of cementing himself as out first choice left back at 21.

He's kept faith with Hanley even when he was a bit shakey, and not because he's actually better than Berra or Greer.

Gave Stevie May his debut.

Had various young players in the squad: Paterson, Macleod, Gauld, Bain, Armstrong.

So I'm not too worried about him carrying on as is.

As for the current squad, who naturally drops out? It's fine for Macaroon to say "We do need freshening up, especially with pace upfront and invention from midfield." but what does that actually translate to?

It's hard to see past Anya and Ritchie, given how important Anya's proved not only as an attacking outlet, but with his allround workrate, and Ritchie's made a great start, coming into a new level (before he was a Prem player), with a new team around him, he's settled in and clocked up a couple of goals and assists in 7 games. Forrest has looked better in the last couple of games, and Bannan's excellent at club level (if you saw the 3-0 win over arsenal, he's doing that basically every game). Outside the squad, we've got Philips, Snodgrass coming back and Ryan Fraser looking like he was getting going until an injury downed him. Are O'Halloran or Jamie Walker good enough to break thru that pile of players and into the side? I can't see it at the moment, probably another campaign out for Walker, O'Halloran's already 24, not sure he's going to step up at this point.

In defensive mid, yeah we need some fresher blood coming thru, and Darren Fletcher's probably at his natural end for us. 32 soon and his performances since he came back have been well below the required level, let alone the bar he set for himself. Jack or Shinnie seem likely to step in. Both have played that position in Europe and done not too bad there.

Strikers.. I dont see anyone who's remotely close to the 4 we have. Fletcher, Rhodes, Grifftihs and Naismith. You can just take a glance at the SPFL scorers list and no one's near Griffiths.. the closest is Stevie Maclean and no one's even near him. Sure we've a few 19 year olds with potential hanging around, but none are knocking on the door.

Linking midfield to attack is a fun one. Lately It's been done by Maloney, Naismith and Morrison. All of whom are still capable, tho to me Naismith (if he's playing) should be leading the line, not playing deeper. Snodgrass was slotting in here often before his injury too, so this is actually a pretty strong part of our team. Gauld's obviously the big hope and the moment he breaks into the Sporting first team he'll be pretty much a certain squad member. Armstrong's getting there, hopefully can establish himself over the season at Celtic (injuries allowing), but too early for Ryan Christie.

So how many 'new' young players can I see coming into the reckoning over the next campaign. Not that many.

Bain might show up again as a 3rd keeper.

Patterson or Liam Palmer are likely as understudies for Hutton.

Jack replacing Darren Fletcher.

Ryan Fraser getting a squad place.

Then there's question marks. Will Gauld make it at Sporting? Will one of the kids with potential find the consistency to make them into a real contender? These we can't really say. Hearts making it into Europe this season could be a fantastic thing for us. There's a lot of very young, talented looking players there, they've stepped up a level this year, and doing the same again next year and getting some experience there would be great for their development.

[LewisEDI]

Then there's question marks. Will Gauld make it at Sporting?

turns 20 next month and it looks like its going to be extrememely difficult to get into the first team squad with sporting flying high at the top of the league this season, would be suprised if they end up turning to youngsters.

[er yir macaroon]

Macaroon: "Has anyone suggested wholesale changes? No."

err.. parklife's reply was pretty clearly saying that he did thing we needed big changes. So, yes.

Isnt that exactly what strachan's been doing? While at the same time trying to make a senior side which has a hope.

He gave Robertson his debut and he's had 8 caps now, on the verge of cementing himself as out first choice left back at 21.

He's kept faith with Hanley even when he was a bit shakey, and not because he's actually better than Berra or Greer.

Gave Stevie May his debut.

Had various young players in the squad: Paterson, Macleod, Gauld, Bain, Armstrong.

So I'm not too worried about him carrying on as is.

As for the current squad, who naturally drops out? It's fine for Macaroon to say "We do need freshening up, especially with pace upfront and invention from midfield." but what does that actually translate to?

It's hard to see past Anya and Ritchie, given how important Anya's proved not only as an attacking outlet, but with his allround workrate, and Ritchie's made a great start, coming into a new level (before he was a Prem player), with a new team around him, he's settled in and clocked up a couple of goals and assists in 7 games. Forrest has looked better in the last couple of games, and Bannan's excellent at club level (if you saw the 3-0 win over arsenal, he's doing that basically every game). Outside the squad, we've got Philips, Snodgrass coming back and Ryan Fraser looking like he was getting going until an injury downed him. Are O'Halloran or Jamie Walker good enough to break thru that pile of players and into the side? I can't see it at the moment, probably another campaign out for Walker, O'Halloran's already 24, not sure he's going to step up at this point.

In defensive mid, yeah we need some fresher blood coming thru, and Darren Fletcher's probably at his natural end for us. 32 soon and his performances since he came back have been well below the required level, let alone the bar he set for himself. Jack or Shinnie seem likely to step in. Both have played that position in Europe and done not too bad there.

Strikers.. I dont see anyone who's remotely close to the 4 we have. Fletcher, Rhodes, Grifftihs and Naismith. You can just take a glance at the SPFL scorers list and no one's near Griffiths.. the closest is Stevie Maclean and no one's even near him. Sure we've a few 19 year olds with potential hanging around, but none are knocking on the door.

Linking midfield to attack is a fun one. Lately It's been done by Maloney, Naismith and Morrison. All of whom are still capable, tho to me Naismith (if he's playing) should be leading the line, not playing deeper. Snodgrass was slotting in here often before his injury too, so this is actually a pretty strong part of our team. Gauld's obviously the big hope and the moment he breaks into the Sporting first team he'll be pretty much a certain squad member. Armstrong's getting there, hopefully can establish himself over the season at Celtic (injuries allowing), but too early for Ryan Christie.

So how many 'new' young players can I see coming into the reckoning over the next campaign. Not that many.

Bain might show up again as a 3rd keeper.

Patterson or Liam Palmer are likely as understudies for Hutton.

Jack replacing Darren Fletcher.

Ryan Fraser getting a squad place.

Then there's question marks. Will Gauld make it at Sporting? Will one of the kids with potential find the consistency to make them into a real contender? These we can't really say. Hearts making it into Europe this season could be a fantastic thing for us. There's a lot of very young, talented looking players there, they've stepped up a level this year, and doing the same again next year and getting some experience there would be great for their development.

Lewis Macleod is my hope for midfield. He's barely kicked a ball for a year, but in a year from now I'm hoping he'll be ready. He scores special goals (including for u21s) and I just think he can make a difference on that basis. Snodgrass and Bannan I'd welcome back with open arms. Ritchie hasn't impressed me that much - loses the ball and markedly slow. A Russell Fletcher combo needs to be considered and I'm optimistic O'Halloran has the physical attributes to offer something very different to what we currently have.

[BremnerLorimerGray]

Jamie Murphy playing well and scoring for the best team in Championship at present.

Hopefully the 4 Ryan's can improve and push their way into the squad, similarly I would like to see Armstrong and Allan become integral at their club. If Griffiths, Rhodes, McCormack and Fletcher keep up the recent form they have been in for the rest of the season then we will have a good problem up front.

I feel Ryan Jack has to move(the right move) to have any real shout at a midfield slot as he needs to test himself against a better quality of opponent.

[giblet]

Yeah, loads of class players make free transfer moves to the Scottish 2nd tier.

careful, you will be saying your world beating midfielders are all better than him next.

[Parklife]

giblet, on 10 Nov 2015 - 7:14 PM, said:

careful, you will be saying your world beating midfielders are all better than him next.

I think McGinn is a good player. My remark was just a throw-away response in to another poster deciding to slag off Ryan Jack for no reason.