RicoS321 Posted March 22 Report Posted March 22 Souttar was honking when he came on. Was McKenna injured, before they took on a right footer to play on the left? Quote
Jute Posted March 22 Report Posted March 22 Thought we played well until subs came on. Moved the ball well and created some good chances. Think Gunn should have saved the first. Souter came on and was abysmal. Should not be anywhere near the squad. Quote
OrlandoDon Posted March 22 Report Posted March 22 Easy to say but if Christie and shankland score it’s a very different game. Thought we played very well in parts, as much as it’s a 4-0 gubbing, positives to take. Quote
Panda Posted March 23 Report Posted March 23 1 hour ago, RicoS321 said: Souttar was honking when he came on. Was McKenna injured, before they took on a right footer to play on the left? Yeah, Souttar replaced McKenna in the squad. Hanley also pulled out. 1 Quote
OrlandoDon Posted March 26 Report Posted March 26 I like that there’s no fucking around with squad rotation, cooper for porteous and dykes for shankland . Fair swap, jambos will be crying but dykes has done pretty well for Scotland. Quote
RicoS321 Posted March 26 Report Posted March 26 7 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said: I like that there’s no fucking around with squad rotation, cooper for porteous and dykes for shankland . Fair swap, jambos will be crying but dykes has done pretty well for Scotland. Yep, reasonable switches. Although resting McTominay or McGinn and giving Ferguson a shot might have been useful. I find the friendlies aren't doing the fringe players much good. Clarke tends to start with his strongest available team and then subs half of them off and things get messy. It then becomes difficult to see if those fringe players would compliment the starting eleven and perhaps change games for us. Ferguson, specifically, doesn't really seem to fit into our system unless in place of one of the above. He's wasted further back. Quote
Jute Posted March 26 Report Posted March 26 That was worst performance in a long time. Created very little and looked really ponderous on the ball. Needed to move it quickly to break them down but we continually looked to play extra pass or take extra touch. Patterson was honking all game again and we really need to hope Hickey is fit or McCrorie get back playing regularly as we cannot go to Euros with Patterson as our right back. 2 Quote
RicoS321 Posted May 21 Report Posted May 21 Disgusting article on the BBC regarding the squad to be announced tomorrow. No mention at all that Dons legend Nicky Devlin is a right back who isn't doing anything else this summer. I'm assuming it'll be Ralston, and maybe McRorie. The squad looks a little lacking though and I can't help but think we're going to need a surprise inclusion or two to give us something off the bench. Assuming that none of the English losers are going to suddenly manifest their Scottishness, I'd be inclined to throw Doak in. He looks a little bit off first team level, but he may just provide something when we need it with his direct running. It's also a good way to introduce him into the squad for future campaigns. When you look at the defenders in the squad, do we really need all of McKenna, Cooper and Hanley (the latter two didn't make their sides for the recent playoff)? Clarke values loyalty, of course, but at what point does that bridge into Craig Brown territory of resisting continuous squad development? Quote
Jute Posted May 21 Report Posted May 21 Right back is definitely a problem. I would consider playing Tierney there even though on his wrong foot. McCrorie did play fair number of games for Bristol towards the end of the season so might be worth a go in the friendlies. Not sure I would be taking Doak or any player who is not playing first team football. That said we are really thin upfront and no idea who we can take. Luke McCowan with 10 and Bruce Anderson with 7 are top Scottish scores in the league after Shankland. Ryan Hardie at Plymouth with 13 in Championship for Plymouth might be a possibility. Ross Stewart managed 4 games at the end of the season after coming back from injury which probably isn’t enough to get him into consideration. Quote
RicoS321 Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 7 hours ago, Jute said: Right back is definitely a problem. I would consider playing Tierney there even though on his wrong foot. McCrorie did play fair number of games for Bristol towards the end of the season so might be worth a go in the friendlies. Not sure I would be taking Doak or any player who is not playing first team football. That said we are really thin upfront and no idea who we can take. Luke McCowan with 10 and Bruce Anderson with 7 are top Scottish scores in the league after Shankland. Ryan Hardie at Plymouth with 13 in Championship for Plymouth might be a possibility. Ross Stewart managed 4 games at the end of the season after coming back from injury which probably isn’t enough to get him into consideration. I thought Tierney was honking anytime he played right back previously. It was like playing with a man down. Maybe he's improved, but I'd probably stick with Ralston or McRorie. I'd normally agree about guys who aren't playing, but I'd make an exception for a young player coming through (like we did with Gilmour). I'd forgotten about Stewart, might be a good shout. We just have very little depth and nothing different coming off the bench. Armstrong and MacLean are okay in qualifiers against poorer opponents, but they're probably not going to swing a game against the Germans with some dazzling bit of footwork. The BBC mentions that Tommy Conway has scored 12 this season for Bristol, so might as well take him and McRorie so they can share travel expenses. Quote
BigAl Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 26 minutes ago, Jute said: Ryan fucking Jack! Agree with your opening sentiment, however can't help but think if all others prove fitness (isn't there a potential doubt about Armstrong ?) then I suspect that Jack might be one of the two to drop out of the confirmed twenty six man squad with the other one to drop out being Liam Kelly (even Motherwell fans haven't rated him this season). Quote
wee toon red Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 Six ex Dons, including two who came through our youth system. Quote
Jute Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 Even with injury doubts Jack should be nowhere near the squad. He has been pish for Tribute Act and not kicked a ball since March. Sad thing is I suspect he and Souttar are in there as token blue bigots. Really hoped Clarke was above that pish but looks like he is not. 4 keepers seems excessive as does 6 centre backs. Couple of them have not played since March which is a concern. Quote
RicoS321 Posted May 22 Report Posted May 22 34 minutes ago, Jute said: Even with injury doubts Jack should be nowhere near the squad. He has been pish for Tribute Act and not kicked a ball since March. Sad thing is I suspect he and Souttar are in there as token blue bigots. Really hoped Clarke was above that pish but looks like he is not. 4 keepers seems excessive as does 6 centre backs. Couple of them have not played since March which is a concern. I expect Jack is there because Clarke is loyal to his players. I expect that him and Kelly will drop out of the 28. I'd also probably have Souttar ahead of one of Hanley or Cooper (we've actually got seven centre backs, as Tierney will definitely be playing left of the three). Clarke does seem to have a tendency to let his squads get a bit stale because of his need to remain loyal to those that played in qualifying. Surely Doig in for one of the centre backs, Barron in for Jack and Johnson in place of one of the goalkeepers would have aided the transition. I expect we'll see quite a few not play again after this tournament, without having featured, or only minimal minutes on the park. Quote
Jute Posted May 25 Report Posted May 25 Barron in U21 squad for upcoming games away to Turkey and Austria. Quote
OrlandoDon Posted May 25 Report Posted May 25 I think cutting from 28 to 26 is pretty open, 5 or 6 either not playing for their clubs or recovering from injury. It’s not a fit squad. Ideally it’s cut a keeper and one more. I’d have picked 30 and cut 4 as I think we’ll be taking players who aren’t fit/match sharp. The more I think about it, I’d have taken Barron for example and one other to make 30 as Barron is fit and on form, who knows what jack presently offers. Quote
RicoS321 Posted May 27 Report Posted May 27 On 25/05/2024 at 22:08, OrlandoDon said: I think cutting from 28 to 26 is pretty open, 5 or 6 either not playing for their clubs or recovering from injury. It’s not a fit squad. Ideally it’s cut a keeper and one more. I’d have picked 30 and cut 4 as I think we’ll be taking players who aren’t fit/match sharp. The more I think about it, I’d have taken Barron for example and one other to make 30 as Barron is fit and on form, who knows what jack presently offers. Jute's point about Fraser not being in the squad is a good one to mention here too. There may be personal reasons (I'm not convinced Clarke has ever been particularly enamoured with him) that he isn't in, but it does strike me as a bit strange that Armstrong is in the squad despite not making the Southampton side the other night (not fit, of course), with Fraser (a regular) not in. It reminds me of Brown in the late nineties, when we just continued with the same players through loyalty and continuity, rather than regularly introducing new faces in order to transition from one campaign to the next. I'm fairly convinced that this will be the "last chance" to see at least half a dozen of these players in a Scotland squad, and I'm not sure what purpose it serves. Hanley, Cooper, Jack, Armstrong, McLean, Forrest are all guys that don't bring a huge amount to the squad and also won't be there beyond the summer (Fraser, at 30, probably has a qualifying in him). The Forrest one, especially, is just weird tokenism at its finest. Barron in for Jack, Max Johnston in for Hanley or Cooper, and maybe Stewart or Conway in for one of McLean, Armstrong or Forrest. Even Josh Doig in for another of the three just mentioned. Would our squad look any worse? Not really. Of course, I'm only mentioning these lads as I've watched the u21s a few times and I'm aware of them, I'm sure there are some other unearthed Scottish grannies out there with grandsons in their early twenties. These guys might not even be the future of the national side, but at least they have a future and we can begin the process of transfer to them. Quote
Jute Posted May 27 Report Posted May 27 I definitely would have had Fraser in before Forrest but I suspect you are correct in saying that Clatke has an issue with Fraser. I also agree that he is maybe being to loyal/lazy with picking players he has used before instead of introducing new players. Maybe he will make changes post tournament. Agree with Orlando’s comment about squad size and can see this potentially biting us in the arse. Anyway ticket for all three games appeared in the app this evening. Getting excited now. 1 Quote
RicoS321 Posted May 31 Report Posted May 31 Dykes stretchered off in training. Could see a resurrection of the 4-6-0. Quote
Jute Posted May 31 Report Posted May 31 Would assume another striker will be called up if it’s as bad as pictures suggest. It would be madness to go with just 3 one of whom has hardly played all season. Quote
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