Mr Bunny Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) I see McLean and Shinnie of Aberdeen didn't get a look in either - though that's just bad luck I think as there are a lot of midfield options and Cairney and Phillips are well worth a place. Thing is apart from Hanley - and he has only played 13 times this season for his team - the centre backs are all getting pretty old and were never outstanding players anyway. So there is a genuine (if not desperate) need to find a good young centre back, in fact 2 or 3 good young centre backs. This makes it ridiculous that the manager is not even having a look at (when we have a friendly for try-outs) at Lindsay who must be the best young centre back (apart possibly from Soutar but we need more than one CB) in the SPL. On top of that I see Wallace has been called up: I don't really rate him and think it's the need to have at least one TRFC player in the squad rather than him being a suitable addition. Edited March 13, 2017 by Mr Bunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 With that Scotland squad announcement I reckon it will have made Lindsay's mind up. He has to leave if he wants in the squad. What's annoying is in theory he should have a better chance of a cap playing week in week out for us. He'll have to start to prove himself all over again at the club he's likely to join. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 He'll be leaving this summer whether he plays for Scotland before that or not. Whether that will be the right move for him remains to be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggy Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Defenders: Berra (Ipswich), Mulgrew (Blackburn) Hanley (Newcastle), R Martin (Norwich), Robertson (Hull), Tierney (Celtic), Wallace (Rangers) 3 left backs, no right backs, or have I missed something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G13 jag Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Defenders: Berra (Ipswich), Mulgrew (Blackburn) Hanley (Newcastle), R Martin (Norwich), Robertson (Hull), Tierney (Celtic), Wallace (Rangers) 3 left backs, no right backs, or have I missed something? Anya played RB v England and is included again as a midfielder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garscube Road End Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Usual pish from a fud of a manager. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggy Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Anya played RB v England and is included again as a midfielder. I know and that worked out well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twinny Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 What's annoying is in theory he should have a better chance of a cap playing week in week out for us. He'll have to start to prove himself all over again at the club he's likely to join. I agree. For his development it would have been great for him to be involved. It would have been great for us too as it could potentially increase his transfer value, if only by a little. It would show our youth players that you can develop while playing for a non-OF team. I feel that this is part of a Scotland manager's role, to further the game in the country. So with a meaningless game why play a bunch of past it journeymen? It would help the game in the country if young players at Thistle, Motherwell, Hamilton etc thought they had a chance to step up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bunny Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) Defenders: Berra (Ipswich), Mulgrew (Blackburn) Hanley (Newcastle), R Martin (Norwich), Robertson (Hull), Tierney (Celtic), Wallace (Rangers) 3 left backs, no right backs, or have I missed something? I notice Phil Bardsley hasn't been getting picked under Strachan. Has had to compete with Glen Johnson but still made 17 appearances this season. I always thought he played well for us when he got a game - decent attacking full back but fairly solid defensively unlike say Hutton. I read he has had discipline problems but then Brown is always a shoe-in for a game. Edited March 13, 2017 by Mr Bunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bunny Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) I agree. For his development it would have been great for him to be involved. It would have been great for us too as it could potentially increase his transfer value, if only by a little. It would show our youth players that you can develop while playing for a non-OF team. I feel that this is part of a Scotland manager's role, to further the game in the country. So with a meaningless game why play a bunch of past it journeymen? It would help the game in the country if young players at Thistle, Motherwell, Hamilton etc thought they had a chance to step up. I'm afraid it's a long standing problem with Scotland managers that they are very slow to give young players a chance - more concerned with their own reputation than taking a risk on a young player. They go for experience even when it sometimes means aged legs. I might not have made myself clear above: I suspect Lindsay isn't and won't reach international class. But at the moment none of the Scotland defenders is international class and they are all with one exception getting old (some were already old when they got their first cap). I'd say Lindsay is already as good or as near as good as most of the Scotland centre backs and he is young and learning all the time. Edited March 13, 2017 by Mr Bunny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaila Street Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Usual pish from a fud of a manager. Blame these halfwits who went to the Gibraltar game, cheered the team off the park and begged him to stay. No wonder I've wrapped the Scotland games. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jagsman411971 Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 Why are we even bothering about this campaign? Put it down to experience, and build for the next campaign. Strachan is a knob. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bunny Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 (edited) Except we're not building for the next campaign if we're not looking to address an obvious weakness in the team by trying out some young centre backs in a friendly (I'm not too sure how many decent young centre backs there are who could play for Scotland). We also need a better centre forward than any we've got at the moment but that is something that is really hard to find. I'm surprised there aren't more good young centre backs around as this is position that can be coached as long as the player has the right physical attributes whereas good goal scorers need a special instinct. Edited March 13, 2017 by Mr Bunny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagsman Posted March 13, 2017 Report Share Posted March 13, 2017 usual shite did u expect anything different Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
l'escardot Posted March 14, 2017 Report Share Posted March 14, 2017 I'm afraid it's a long standing problem with Scotland managers that they are very slow to give young players a chance - more concerned with their own reputation than taking a risk on a young player. They go for experience even when it sometimes means aged legs. I might not have made myself clear above: I suspect Lindsay isn't and won't reach international class. But at the moment none of the Scotland defenders is international class and they are all with one exception getting old (some were already old when they got their first cap). I'd say Lindsay is already as good or as near as good as most of the Scotland centre backs and he is young and learning all the time. Agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 15, 2017 Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/teams/scotland/five-biggest-snubs-from-the-recent-scotland-squad-1-4392205 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bunny Posted March 15, 2017 Report Share Posted March 15, 2017 (edited) Yeah, I mentioned Bardsley and the 2 Aberdeen players (McLean is mentioned in a comment below the article). The 3 key points being : 1) Bardsley has played for Scotland before, is experienced and playing for an EPL team. There is only Anya in the squad who can play right back. Just remembered Martin has played right back but Bardsley plays at a higher level and also can play left back - why have 3 (maybe 4) left backs? 2) As the article said, Hanley has only played 13 times for a Championship team this season. The other centre backs are aging and were never top-class centre backs anyway. We need to find good young centre backs. 3) Shinnie and McLean I've more sympathy for the manager there in that we have tons of midfield players though some are getting on a bit and we should always be looking for young in-form players to replace them when the time comes. We have a friendly before the serious game why not use that to try out Lindsay, McLean and Shinnie? I note the article makes the point that Barry McKay gets a cap while the very effective Jamie Walker doesn't get a look-in. I wonder why - oh wait the article also tells us that too. My take on it is that Strachan was always a twisted little SOB and the fact that there are big calls for the likes of Lindsay, Shinnie and Walker to get caps is the very reason he is not picking them. You could almost laugh if it wasn't that he doesn't have the guts to do the same to the Old Firm. Some of the Celtic players are OK but McKay though promising is far from ready compared to other non OF players mentioned and Lee Wallace though decent isn't near the class of Tierney and Robertson so why 3 left backs (4 if you include Mulgrew) and only 1 right back while Bardsley doesn't get a game? Well we all know. He had to fit a Rangers player into the squad and that was the only one who he probably would get much argument about. Edited March 15, 2017 by Mr Bunny 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillresigned Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 Just as well Pele and Maradonna weren't Scottish! Would still be waiting on their international debut if they were! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 Great post Mr Bunny, absolutely spot on. Strachan is just an awkward character. He has classic wee man syndrome. He can't take any sort of criticism and makes a point of ignoring certain players just to show that he's in charge. Griffiths being a classic case in point. Yes he hasn't been as prominent this season due to Dembele but last season he scored 40 odd goals but still couldn't get a start under Strachan. What other nation in world football doesn't start a striker in that kind of form? Strachan is determined to show that he is the man in charge, and he seems to put this before what is actually best for the team. That's why we are in the position we are in. The worst thing for me though, is that this situation is all of his own making. In my lifetime, I can't remember another manager coming in to a job with so much goodwill from both the fans and the media. He was everyone's first choice for the job, and literally everyone wanted him to succeed. Unheard of in football. And yet here we are. He's made a complete ar*e of it and he can't blame anyone but himself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lady-isobel-barnett Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 Aye, Mr Bunny is spot on. What's maybe not been mentioned, it's not just player selection that Strachan has got wrong. It's his choice of assistant manager. Indeed the combination of Strachan and McGhee seems to me disastrous. Even if a manager does tend towards the egomaniacal it can be somewhat tempered with having a down to earth assistant. Not another bighead who tells everyone how close he was to managing Celtic and Liverpool. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Endell Posted March 16, 2017 Report Share Posted March 16, 2017 McGhee is a buffoon. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elevenone Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Liam gets called up to replace Grant Hanley.....Liam Cooper that is,mostly on bench for Leeds all season although did feature and got sent off in their shock FA cup defeat to Sutton Utd. Our Liam must be gutted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian_mac Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 Well if it's any consolation to Liam the Canada game is probably one that no one would want to make their debut in. About 5,000 tickets sold apparently. On course to be Scotland's lowest home attendance in over 100 years. Well done Gordon Strachan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stillresigned Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 If anyone wishes to discover the roots of Scotland's lack of progress at international level-I give you their selection policy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaila Street Posted March 20, 2017 Report Share Posted March 20, 2017 When you're the Scotland manager the very least I expect is that you take an interest in, and try and promote the game in Scotland at all levels. The current incumbent miserably fails that test - totally disinterested on all counts. Have you ever heard him speak about the game in general or show up at a match out with the obvious? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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