Scotland squad

[Panda]

Did things go to shit again on my night off? Until they clone me, things like this will happen.

As for the game: Gilmour the best player, bizarre to sub him off (unless injured).

I thought we should have gone back to five at the back because Greece had so many crosses into the box on Thursday. Could have started Tierney and pushed the wing backs up a bit.

Was such a big gap between Adams and the midfield, we rarely offered a threat after 10 minutes against a side who looked suspect defensively.

All I can hope is my next trip to Hampden is better than that, but that Craig Gordon's is just as bad.

[wee toon red]

We've got a championship-level squad plus a handful of one-step-below-top-tier central midfielders and two left backs who are on the way down. No goalie, no centre backs and no strikers of any note.

Clarke still frustrates the life out of me with his team selections but he isn't exactly leaving Brazil 1970 on the bench.

McLean instead of Ferguson was daft and you could have made a good argument for playing Tierney ahead of Robertson - or vice versa - from the start to try and nullify the young boy but I still don't think we'd have laid a glove on Greece.

We need the aforementioned midfielders to be on top form for us to have a chance in most games but all of them, plus our other "top man" Robertson, were rubbish last night.

Hickey and Doak should walk into the team when fit and that'll help a bit but not enough to make us a consistent "league A" team until we find some defenders and a centre forward.

Edited March 24 by wee toon red

[RicoS321]

1 minute ago, wee toon red said:

We've got a championship-level squad plus a handful of one-step-below-top-tier central midfielders and two left backs who are on the way down. No goalie, no centre backs and no strikers of any note.

Clarke still frustrates the life out of me with his team selections but he isn't exactly leaving Brazil 1970 on the bench.

McLean instead of Ferguson was daft and you could have made a good argument for playing Tierney ahead of Robertson - or vice versa - from the start to try and nullify the young boy but I still don't think we'd have laid a glove on Greece.

We need the aforementioned midfielders to be on top form for us to have a chance in most games but all of them, plus our other "top man" Robertson, were rubbish last night.

I assume you mean English Championship? Anyway, we've got players playing at roughly the same level as the Greeks, possibly slightly higher. We beat them over there, and we could have beaten them over here had we set up correctly (I have a feeling we will beat them in WC qualifying by doing so). Our biggest issue is that we lack quality in some key areas of the park, and Clarke doesn't seem to know how to mitigate that (or he does, but then does it until it dies). Adams is a prime example. He's doing well in Italy, but it's very clear that he isn't the guy to be holding it up with a guy hard up his ass. To mitigate that, you bring in Conway or Hirst (preferably the former, Hirst looks like the new Chris Martin to me) to occupy defenders. Take out McLean and play one of Christie of Ferguson instead. Bring McKenna into the team, then you've got two centre backs comfortable taking the ball out of defence on their correct sides. I rarely watch English fitba, so I've no idea what McGinn does for Villa, but it's very clear that he needs to be playing high up the park for Scotland, as he either can't play sitting deep, or Villa have other players to mitigate the constant errors he makes (which are fine further up the field) and his inability to get back in. I would consider making McTominay and McGinn an either/or situation, or play McTominay as the striker alongside Adams. We're completely imbalanced as a squad, and Clarke tries his best just to play all our best players, but I don't think we can continue to do that. There's five subs these days, and they all have huge schedules with their clubs, so maybe it's time to start benching some of our "star" players in order that we have really good options from the bench. Christie or Ferguson, McTominay or McGinn, Robertson or Tierney, Nicky Devlin or... nah, there's some players that are too valuable to miss any minutes on the pitch.

We also need viable systems to change to earlier in games if things aren't going well. Clarke doesn't seem to have that. In fact, he has one system that he sticks to for years, and only when it proves untenable, he switches to another one that will be the system for the rest of eternity. I know that he did sort of attempt to change system last night, but it was half arsed at best. Wilson is obviously miles away from being a Scotland player, but to take him on in some sort of weird front three was abysmal. It was the sign of someone out of ideas.

We need a couple more Doaks of course. In a couple of years time, he'll have had all that trickery and direct running worked out of him by the modern game and percentage fitba, so hopefully we have another couple coming through.

[RicoS321]

U21s Vs Iceland on YouTube just now. 

Edit: just lost a goal, 0-1 down, lovely ball for the strike

Edited March 25 by RicoS321

[RicoS321]

22 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

U21s Vs Iceland on YouTube just now. 

Edit: just lost a goal, 0-1 down, lovely ball for the strike

Half time, 0-3 down. Holy crap, if that is the future of the Scotland Nationl team, then we're absolutely fucked. They are really bad. They're playing like they've just come straight from a 3 hour training session. That involved alcohol. The second goal, the midfielder passed it straight to their player. In itself, fine, but then he didn't sprint to get it back, he jogged across leaving the fullback 2 on 1 until the last second, and he ended up getting easily skinned. Just really lazy, and a sign of terrible coaching. The third came from a simple corner. It's in Murcia for some reason, so perhaps the Iceland lads are more used to the hot weather. I won't be watching the second half.

[RicoS321]

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Half time, 0-3 down. Holy crap, if that is the future of the Scotland Nationl team, then we're absolutely fucked. They are really bad. They're playing like they've just come straight from a 3 hour training session. That involved alcohol. The second goal, the midfielder passed it straight to their player. In itself, fine, but then he didn't sprint to get it back, he jogged across leaving the fullback 2 on 1 until the last second, and he ended up getting easily skinned. Just really lazy, and a sign of terrible coaching. The third came from a simple corner. It's in Murcia for some reason, so perhaps the Iceland lads are more used to the hot weather. I won't be watching the second half.

Finished 1-6. Glad I turned it off. 

[Jute]

Thankfully I had meetings in work today so missed this. U21s under Gemmill seem to be getting worse every time. 

[RicoS321]

8 minutes ago, Jute said:

Thankfully I had meetings in work today so missed this. U21s under Gemmill seem to be getting worse every time. 

Apparently when the u21s played Russia a few years' back, Vladimir Putin asked to meet with him in order to get his advice on staying in charge for so long. 

[BigAl]

2 hours ago, RicoS321 said:

Finished 1-6. Glad I turned it off. 

WTAF

Glad I knew nothing of this game or coverage

The future certainly isn't bright or dark blue

Frankly, we're fucked and this is why I simply can't excited by the prospect of watching a Scotland game 

[Jute]

On a brighter note U17s win 8-0. Fletcher Boyd among the scorers. 

[Jute]

U20s squad for friendly against Slovakia announced.

Not one Dons player in the squad.

[BigAl]

5 hours ago, Jute said:

U20s squad for friendly against Slovakia announced.

Not one Dons player in the squad.

On the his occasion in fairness not convinced there is a case for suggesting that there should be in all honesty.

A sorry state of affairs 

[Jute]

1 hour ago, BigAl said:

On the his occasion in fairness not convinced there is a case for suggesting that there should be in all honesty.

A sorry state of affairs 

Meant to say last night I am not sure there are any who deserved a call up. Maybe 3 lads who where at Cove this season but not sure they fall into this age group. 

[wee toon red]

Thought Alfie Bavidge might've been worth a go. He's 19, as - I think - are the three boys at Cove, so should be the right age. Although u20s is a bit of a weird age group and they're maybe all still classed as u19?

[Jute]

22 minutes ago, wee toon red said:

Thought Alfie Bavidge might've been worth a go. He's 19, as - I think - are the three boys at Cove, so should be the right age. Although u20s is a bit of a weird age group and they're maybe all still classed as u19?

Looking through squad I think it looks like groups who will be U21 age group for next campaign. 

[BigAl]

Squad announced for the couple of June friendlies against Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Can't see me parting with my hard earned pennies to pay and go to watch these games. Squad is pretty uninspiring also.

Scotland squad

Goalkeepers: Gunn (unattached), McCrorie (Kilmarnock), Slicker (Ipswich Town)

Defenders: Doig (Sassuolo Calcio), Hanley (Birmingham City), Hendry (Al-Etiffaq), Johnston (Sturm Graz), Scott McKenna (Las Palmas), Patterson (Everton), Ralston (Celtic), Robertson (Liverpool), Souttar (Rangers), Tierney (Arsenal)

Midfielders: Barron (Rangers), Ferguson (Bologna), Gilmour (Napoli), Irving (West Ham United), McGinn (Aston Villa), McTominay (Napoli), Miller (Motherwell)

Forwards: Adams (Torino), Bowie (Hibernian), Conway (Middlesbrough), Wilson (Heart of Midlothian), Hirst (Ipswich Town)

 

[Jute]

Squad for upcoming friendlies. 
 

 

[RicoS321]

Bowie, Conway and Wilson is wild. I'm not seeing it with Wilson at all to be honest. Bowie might have something about him, and Conway is half decent. Three right backs and one left back is an interesting concept too. I'm intrigued by the young lad Hanley at Birmingham too, it'll be interesting to see if he gets an opportunity with an eye on the competitive games. Don't get me started on the goalies though.

 

Edit: for some reason, I didn't notice Robertson in either of the above posts! Fine with the fullbacks. Apart from Ralston, who shouldn't be invited

Edited May 19 by RicoS321

[wee toon red]

The squad has a sense of picking anyone who might be available. As @RicoS321says, three right backs is pretty mental. Although there are also three left backs - Doig, Robertson and Tierney.

Edited May 19 by wee toon red

[RicoS321]

1 minute ago, wee toon red said:

The squad has a sense of picking anyone who might be available. As @RicoS321says, three right backs is pretty mental.

You could be right, I don't imagine these fixtures offer anything to any of our players who've just had a long season, and I'd expect drop outs.

[Jute]

Team for tonight

 

[BigAl]

Saw the name Hanley and stopped reading.

I mean c'mon to fuck, seriously Steve Clarke, what the actual.

How the hell is this guy still starting for Scotland 

[RicoS321]

22 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Saw the name Hanley and stopped reading.

I mean c'mon to fuck, seriously Steve Clarke, what the actual.

How the hell is this guy still starting for Scotland 

He's a young lad, in a difficult fixture, it'll be interesting to see what he can do.

[OrlandoDon]

26 minutes ago, BigAl said:

Saw the name Hanley and stopped reading.

I mean c'mon to fuck, seriously Steve Clarke, what the actual.

How the hell is this guy still starting for Scotland 

Ha. I had an identical reaction. Whether you rate him or not, hendry should be ahead of him.

[BigAl]

3 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

He's a young lad, in a difficult fixture, it'll be interesting to see what he can do.

Aye you're right min, I'm just a grumpy old bastard picking on the young ones