Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 18 minutes ago, GorgieFifeLife said: Nisbet, Barron and Miller and that’s without even looking at it properly. Lol. Absolute nonsense. None of them improve on the guys he has given a chance too. Brings in Irving and Gauld and recently Doak and Morgan and still criticised. Leaves them out you'd be greeting why is Doak not getting a chance! Leaves out Shankland for Nisbet and this place would be going mental. Brings in Barron oh it's just because he's at Rangers now. An absolutely impossible job to please people. Overall has done an exceptional job despite teh Euro's being disappointing. The summer and into the Autumn saw us contending with far too many key and big injuries. His success making it more difficult because of the level of opposition we are now facing. Torn faced miserable Scots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 16 minutes ago, If carlsberg did rivals... said: I can give you one who shouldn't be anywhere near it mate, Shankland! People on here are the first to moan if an out of form player gets picked for Scotland ahead of a Hearts player. Indeed. But let's not rile people up more than absolutely necessary eh! 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
If carlsberg did rivals... Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 1 minute ago, Luckies1874 said: Indeed. But let's not rile people up more than absolutely necessary eh! 😂 If I'm not allowed to rile folk up mate, there's not much point me being here! 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigma One Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 41 minutes ago, Luckies1874 said: Do you aye?! Give us 3 players who should be in the squad who aren’t! Gez, clam down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stendelnator Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 I would not have argued if Connor Barron had been in the squad ahead of Kenny McLean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 2 minutes ago, Stendelnator said: I would not have argued if Connor Barron had been in the squad ahead of Kenny McLean. McLean has started and captained Norwich in every League match this season. He's playing more regularly than probably at anytime he's been involved for Scotland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boag1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 3 minutes ago, Stendelnator said: I would not have argued if Connor Barron had been in the squad ahead of Kenny McLean. Personally with the maroon specs off I wouldn't have argued if he'd picked Nisbet over Shanks either based on club form - though there is always the chance with Shankland that he goes on a scoring spree in the next 2 games & suddenly there's a clamour to start him Other than that I'd say the squad is fair enough, just hope Doak & Gauld are given plenty game time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gundermann Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Hopefully Shanks will use the incentive of getting a starting place to up his form for us, especially as the media are now talking up Nisbet as a returnee to the national squad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger Rudi Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 5 hours ago, Pasquale for King said: Great to see Andy Irving in there, no surprise really. Clark out for Gordon was a bit of a shock, and Shankland is fortunate to be there too. Must admit I'm surprised but Clarke has gone up in my estimation. We didn't agree with him dropping Gordon at the time but his reasoning (lack of game time) could be understood. He's being consistent I'll give him that. Shows there's a world of difference between doing his best to accommodate a keeper of Gordon's stature at the Euros and dropping Clark like a hot turd now. Well done Craig, I hope his inclusion gives him a big personal lift. Shanks too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego10 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Shankland, for being out of form, is still massively superior to Nisbet. He also played well off the bench against Poland in the last camp. A bit lucky to hold onto his place maybe, but not cause Nisbet is much cop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ally Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 3 hours ago, Luckies1874 said: Kelly had no chance of playing. Gordon having barely played for Hearts had no chance of playing. Quite simple really. If you say so, mate. Not sure how you come to that conclusion, mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db211833 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 4 hours ago, Seymour M Hersh said: What the **** is he calling up Shankland for? Because he is level headed enough not to discard a quality striker because he has had a short run of bad form. Some would call it loyalty, you should give it a go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ1984 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 6 hours ago, August Landmesser said: Shanks called up, and Craig Gordon too. Have to say, that's incredibly poor from Clarke, dropping Craig from the Euros squad, then crawling back to him when the Rangers' bench warmer is injured. The man's a prick Is there any selection Clarke could have made that wouldn't make you irrationally angry? Gordon was out for more than a year and was on our bench when the Euro's was on. The Rangers bench warmer played all season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GorgieFifeLife Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 4 hours ago, Luckies1874 said: Lol. Absolute nonsense. None of them improve on the guys he has given a chance too. Brings in Irving and Gauld and recently Doak and Morgan and still criticised. Leaves them out you'd be greeting why is Doak not getting a chance! Leaves out Shankland for Nisbet and this place would be going mental. Brings in Barron oh it's just because he's at Rangers now. An absolutely impossible job to please people. Overall has done an exceptional job despite teh Euro's being disappointing. The summer and into the Autumn saw us contending with far too many key and big injuries. His success making it more difficult because of the level of opposition we are now facing. Torn faced miserable Scots! Sorry I got as far as Lol and then checked out. Looking at the rest of the thread you need to calm down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcjambo Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Porteous - after his performance in the Euros! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hearts007 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Porteous ,man we are hard up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Grant Hanley getting a rest tonight on bench for Norwich. Shane Duffy preferred. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 2 hours ago, JJ1984 said: Is there any selection Clarke could have made that wouldn't make you irrationally angry? Gordon was out for more than a year and was on our bench when the Euro's was on. The Rangers bench warmer played all season. Gordon played as much first team football before the Euros as the likes of Ralston, Cooper, Forrest, Jack who all made the squad despite not being normal starters for Scotland or their clubs and CG is arguably Scotland’s best ever keeper so you would think that out of all of them CG would get more leeway. And Kelly is pish and was a nonsense selection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seymour M Hersh Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 2 hours ago, db211833 said: Because he is level headed enough not to discard a quality striker because he has had a short run of bad form. Some would call it loyalty, you should give it a go. Loyalty from Clarke to Shankland. Shut up ya tumshie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 3 hours ago, db211833 said: Because he is level headed enough not to discard a quality striker because he has had a short run of bad form. Some would call it loyalty, you should give it a go. Or level headed enough to discard the same striker when he was in the form of his life and the in form Scottish striker? Let’s see how loyal he is to him when Conway is fit again and Nisbet keeps banging the goals in. Shanks is probably lucky to be in this squad but having said that Dykes and Adams could probably survive a full season hardly scoring and still get selected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db211833 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 29 minutes ago, Seymour M Hersh said: Loyalty from Clarke to Shankland. Shut up ya tumshie. He is either picking him for loyalty or form. Your post would suggest it isn't form so which is it? You can't have it both ways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 20 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said: Or level headed enough to discard the same striker when he was in the form of his life and the in form Scottish striker? Let’s see how loyal he is to him when Conway is fit again and Nisbet keeps banging the goals in. Shanks is probably lucky to be in this squad but having said that Dykes and Adams could probably survive a full season hardly scoring and still get selected. Adams has scored 4 goals in Serie A already this season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 18 minutes ago, Luckies1874 said: Adams has scored 4 goals in Serie A already this season. And Dykes yet to score in the English 3rd tier. The point I’m making is that it doesn’t matter what these two do, they’ll get picked regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 3 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said: And Dykes yet to score in the English 3rd tier. The point I’m making is that it doesn’t matter what these two do, they’ll get picked regardless. I would suggest we still have nobody better at international level which is why they get picked. That's an indictment on the younger levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 29 minutes ago, db211833 said: He is either picking him for loyalty or form. Your post would suggest it isn't form so which is it? You can't have it both ways. I suspect it’s neither and more to do with the lack of fit options. He will likely soon get replaced by Conway / Nisbet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 4 minutes ago, Luckies1874 said: I would suggest we still have nobody better at international level which is why they get picked. That's an indictment on the younger levels. We’ll never know if the other guys don’t get a chance or just get limited to the few minutes Shankland gets. It’s almost like a closed shop with certain players / positions. Doesn’t matter how badly certain players play or how often they do it, they’re undroppable to Clarke. McGinn for example has been awful for Scotland since before the Euros and deserved to be dropped. Nobody should be undroppable. Now he’s injured so at least someone else gets a chance. Bottom line is though, Clarke can match Naismith’s hopeless, winless run (can’t be far off it now?) and you’ll still be on here defending him to the hilt. But it’s so similar to the Naismith situation at Hearts - how can you go from pissing 3rd, with near record points and away wins to looking completely hopeless and not looking like scoring a goal never mind winning a game? And in Scotland’s case from turning a team that squooshed qualification, beating Spain on the way to a team completely lacking in confidence and devoid of attacking ideas and hands down the worst team at the Euros, when on paper we are nowhere near that bad? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 Ralston got 8 minutes tonight. More than enough to be first choice for Scotland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said: We’ll never know if the other guys don’t get a chance or just get limited to the few minutes Shankland gets. It’s almost like a closed shop with certain players / positions. Doesn’t matter how badly certain players play or how often they do it, they’re undroppable to Clarke. McGinn for example has been awful for Scotland since before the Euros and deserved to be dropped. Nobody should be undroppable. Now he’s injured so at least someone else gets a chance. Bottom line is though, Clarke can match Naismith’s hopeless, winless run (can’t be far off it now?) and you’ll still be on here defending him to the hilt. But it’s so similar to the Naismith situation at Hearts - how can you go from pissing 3rd, with near record points and away wins to looking completely hopeless and not looking like scoring a goal never mind winning a game? And in Scotland’s case from turning a team that squooshed qualification, beating Spain on the way to a team completely lacking in confidence and devoid of attacking ideas and hands down the worst team at the Euros, when on paper we are nowhere near that bad? Adams is quite clearly proving he is the best striker Scotland have. The fact we saw absolutely nada interest for Shankland underlines that fact that people within the game simply don't rate him. Whether Adams is the best goalscorer is difficult to tell as he's been playing at a far higher level and continues to do so. Dykes has been struggling for game time for ages at club level but still offers a lot for Scotland and was missed massively in Germany. There are very very few options out with these 3 and that remains the case. Nisbet has some potential and may get looked at again given his start at Aberdeen and Conway is doing reasonably well at M'Boro but is now injured. Who else is there? As for your comparisons between Clarke and Naismith, sorry can't agree with that at all. The run of fixtures Scotland have played has been historically difficult with a ludicrous stretch of friendly games. The Euro's were disappointing no question about that but the injuries hurt us badly and both the Swiss and Hungary games could have gone either way. We can't afford to have 6 or 7 important players out, as we do right now, we simply don't have the depth. I was at the Spain game (and all 3 games in Germany) and it was a fantastic night but people forget the stars aligned - Spain took us far too lightly and had almost a 2nd side out and we took advantage. Clarke has done a fantastic job overall, taking us to 2 Championships after more than 2 decades in the wilderness which also sees us playing against better opposition in the Nations League, which of course leads to poorer results - would you rather we remained in League B and played poorer opposition? I suspect that the World Cup 2026 qualification campaign will be his final period in charge of us and then you and others can delight in his departure! Edited October 1 by Luckies1874 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
db211833 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 31 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said: I suspect it’s neither and more to do with the lack of fit options. He will likely soon get replaced by Conway / Nisbet though. On form he should have chosen Nisbet. I just responded to someone who I think was being pretty disrespectful to Shankland who has scored near 60 goals in 2 seasons but happens to be I a poor run of form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ1984 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 3 hours ago, Fozzyonthefence said: Gordon played as much first team football before the Euros as the likes of Ralston, Cooper, Forrest, Jack who all made the squad despite not being normal starters for Scotland or their clubs and CG is arguably Scotland’s best ever keeper so you would think that out of all of them CG would get more leeway. And Kelly is pish and was a nonsense selection. All of them bar Jack played throughout the season, bar cups and a couple of token games Craig didn't. Cooper and Jack like Craig didn't go to the Euros' James Forrest was fantastic towards the end of the season and we have very little right backs. Kelly was never going to play, neither would Gordon. They took the younger player to gain experience. Now Craigs back playing he's in the squad again even if he's not really performed anywhere near his best recently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ1984 Posted October 1 Share Posted October 1 1 hour ago, Mikey1874 said: Ralston got 8 minutes tonight. More than enough to be first choice for Scotland. He would be nowhere near first choice if there was other options like Hickey or Patterson. Who do you want in the squad? Stephen O'Donnell again? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craighearts79 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 Nation's League games are effectively friendlies, would have thought S. Clarke might have taken the opportunity to look at a few more new faces around the setup what with a few of the regulars out. Would have probably gone with (GK) R. Ferguson from Larne instead of C. Gordon, he's played quite a bit of football this year already including European Qualifiers/Conference League. As much as Craig has been a stalwart for Club and Country S. Clarke surely canny see any long term future for him in the squad. As for (CB) G. Hanley same as C. Gordon, you know what he gives you already, I would've gone with D. Hyam from Blackburn, played all of Blackburn's games so far this year, so clearly match sharp, and also only conceded 9 goals in what we all know is a competitive Championship. Again, as for (LB) A. Robertson is our 1st choice, so why not add J. MacKenzie from Aberdeen instead of G. Taylor, give these younger lads some time around the best players we've had and hopefully see them flourish for the experience. (CM) A. Irvine is certainly something that I don't mind, in my opinion a like for like future replacement for K. McLean, both cultured Left-footed Midfielders, K. McLean so far this year is playing well at Norwich. (SC) Certainly don't mind C. Adams, on scoring form with Torino, might have taken O. McBurnie over L. Dykes as he's getting game time with Las Palmas and deserves another shot playing for us. Also would have taken R. Hardie from Plymouth/ K. Nisbet instead of Shankland as both seem in slightly better goal-scoring form. (CM) L. Miller, Motherwell and L. McCowan also could have been inclusions but think L. Miller will be better served in the U-21's for now, as for L. McCowan squad would have been stronger with him in it instead of A. Irvine on recent form/fitness but at lease S. Clarke is taking a punt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DS98 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 Glad Gordon is back in but it just proves it was a complete and utter piss take not to take him to the Euros. Clarke embarrassed the guy and tried to retire him only to go crawling back to him 3 months later. Hopefully with Shankland goal at the weekend and his inclusion that’ll give him the springboard he needs. Clarke is a banger. He got Scotland to two Euros? So what. With the introduction of the Nations League and the expansion of the tournaments it would be a national embarrassment if we didn’t. Lee Johnson would get us there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 7 hours ago, JJ1984 said: All of them bar Jack played throughout the season, bar cups and a couple of token games Craig didn't. Cooper and Jack like Craig didn't go to the Euros' James Forrest was fantastic towards the end of the season and we have very little right backs. Kelly was never going to play, neither would Gordon. They took the younger player to gain experience. Now Craigs back playing he's in the squad again even if he's not really performed anywhere near his best recently. Cooper and Jack were both laughably in the Euros squad and, iirc, they, with Forrest and Ralston, only started around 7 or 8 games over the whole season, that’s why I made the comparison. Had something happened (injury / red card) to the first two choices we would have ended up in the ridiculous situation of relying on Kelly instead of the tried and proven Gordon. That’s poor management. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 9 hours ago, Luckies1874 said: Adams is quite clearly proving he is the best striker Scotland have. The fact we saw absolutely nada interest for Shankland underlines that fact that people within the game simply don't rate him. Whether Adams is the best goalscorer is difficult to tell as he's been playing at a far higher level and continues to do so. Dykes has been struggling for game time for ages at club level but still offers a lot for Scotland and was missed massively in Germany. There are very very few options out with these 3 and that remains the case. Nisbet has some potential and may get looked at again given his start at Aberdeen and Conway is doing reasonably well at M'Boro but is now injured. Who else is there? As for your comparisons between Clarke and Naismith, sorry can't agree with that at all. The run of fixtures Scotland have played has been historically difficult with a ludicrous stretch of friendly games. The Euro's were disappointing no question about that but the injuries hurt us badly and both the Swiss and Hungary games could have gone either way. We can't afford to have 6 or 7 important players out, as we do right now, we simply don't have the depth. I was at the Spain game (and all 3 games in Germany) and it was a fantastic night but people forget the stars aligned - Spain took us far too lightly and had almost a 2nd side out and we took advantage. Clarke has done a fantastic job overall, taking us to 2 Championships after more than 2 decades in the wilderness which also sees us playing against better opposition in the Nations League, which of course leads to poorer results - would you rather we remained in League B and played poorer opposition? I suspect that the World Cup 2026 qualification campaign will be his final period in charge of us and then you and others can delight in his departure! Yes Adams is doing well this season but he wasn’t playing at a high level last season and was hardly prolific having dropped down a league. Dykes is utter pony and should be nowhere near the Scotland team. The fact he is now playing and not scoring in the English 3rd tier tells us all we need to know about his ability. If you think we should be playing a huddy up front to shell high balls at then why not go with McBurnie? At least he’s playing at a much higher level (no, I don’t want him either). The fact you can’t acknowledge the comparison between Naismith and Clarke just shows your bias. It was a very reasonable comparison to make. You use the excuse of Scotland having had difficult fixtures but fail to acknowledge that Hearts have also had a difficult run of fixtures (6 of our winless games have been against Rangers, Celtic and Plzen). He got us to two Euros yes but one was extremely fortunate, through the back door (after failing the proper qualification group), via draws and penalty shoot outs against the mighty Israel then Serbia. The second qualification was excellent and I thought Clarke (like Naismith) had cracked it. But again at the Euros (like last time) he looked out of his depth and didn’t have a clue how to change it (again, see similarities with Naismith). “Disappointing” is quite the understatement to describe the Euros performances - it was an abject embarrassment and he should have been sacked immediately. As for injuries, yes Scotland have them (but it’s an exaggeration to say we had 6 or 7 key starters missing at the Euros - Hickey and then Tierney during it were big misses but please don’t say Dykes was a big miss or you just lose credibility!). Hearts have had injuries to key players too. Every team gets injuries, it’s up to good managers to cope with them. Naismith couldn’t and rightly got punted. Clarke couldn’t and wrongly didn’t. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 2 hours ago, DS98 said: Clarke is a banger. He got Scotland to two Euros? So what. With the introduction of the Nations League and the expansion of the tournaments it would be a national embarrassment if we didn’t. Lee Johnson would get us there. Norway didn't get there with Haaland and if I remember correctly they were in our group. They must feel very embarrassed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 9 hours ago, JJ1984 said: He would be nowhere near first choice if there was other options like Hickey or Patterson. Who do you want in the squad? Stephen O'Donnell again? The guy who played his first 100 games at right back, John Souttar for example. But someone who plays regularly would be a start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 1 hour ago, Fozzyonthefence said: Yes Adams is doing well this season but he wasn’t playing at a high level last season and was hardly prolific having dropped down a league. Dykes is utter pony and should be nowhere near the Scotland team. The fact he is now playing and not scoring in the English 3rd tier tells us all we need to know about his ability. If you think we should be playing a huddy up front to shell high balls at then why not go with McBurnie? At least he’s playing at a much higher level (no, I don’t want him either). The fact you can’t acknowledge the comparison between Naismith and Clarke just shows your bias. It was a very reasonable comparison to make. You use the excuse of Scotland having had difficult fixtures but fail to acknowledge that Hearts have also had a difficult run of fixtures (6 of our winless games have been against Rangers, Celtic and Plzen). He got us to two Euros yes but one was extremely fortunate, through the back door (after failing the proper qualification group), via draws and penalty shoot outs against the mighty Israel then Serbia. The second qualification was excellent and I thought Clarke (like Naismith) had cracked it. But again at the Euros (like last time) he looked out of his depth and didn’t have a clue how to change it (again, see similarities with Naismith). “Disappointing” is quite the understatement to describe the Euros performances - it was an abject embarrassment and he should have been sacked immediately. As for injuries, yes Scotland have them (but it’s an exaggeration to say we had 6 or 7 key starters missing at the Euros - Hickey and then Tierney during it were big misses but please don’t say Dykes was a big miss or you just lose credibility!). Hearts have had injuries to key players too. Every team gets injuries, it’s up to good managers to cope with them. Naismith couldn’t and rightly got punted. Clarke couldn’t and wrongly didn’t. When you constantly misquote in an attempt to help your points any validity some of them may have completely lose any effectiveness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenold Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 No way we are not getting relegated this time around. Into group B we go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 1 hour ago, Luckies1874 said: When you constantly misquote in an attempt to help your points any validity some of them may have completely lose any effectiveness. I didn’t misquote anything and my points were all valid. The fact that you’re Clarke’s chief cheerleader and probably the only person on JKB that can’t handle the slightest criticism of him means most of your arguments lose any effectiveness. The only word I quoted from your post was “disappointing” which was exactly the word you used, therefore not a misquote and certainly no constant quoting or misquoting on my part - read my post again and come back to with any other misquotes I made or do you not understand what misquote means? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 Just now, Fozzyonthefence said: I didn’t misquote anything and my points were all valid. The fact that you’re Clarke’s chief cheerleader and probably the only person on JKB that can’t handle the slightest criticism of him means most of your arguments lose any effectiveness. The only word I quoted from your post was “disappointing” which was exactly the word you used, therefore not a misquote and certainly no constant quoting or misquoting on my part - read my post again and come back to with any other misquotes I made or do you not understand what misquote means? Hahaha you misquoted literally numerous times particularly surrounding injuries but hey ho, you do you! I'll continue to support my country and the Head Coach who has done an excellent job. We certainly will never agree on several of your other points as frankly they are wrong and would be laughed at by people within football. As I said I suspect the WC qualification will be his last tournament and then you'll be able to back whoever they manage to bring in to replace him who will be under a lot of pressure to replicate his record. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diadora Van Basten Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 16 hours ago, Mikey1874 said: Ralston got 8 minutes tonight. More than enough to be first choice for Scotland. Glad Devlin came into the squad. Ralston was the worst player in the tournament at the Euros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 3 hours ago, Luckies1874 said: Hahaha you misquoted literally numerous times particularly surrounding injuries but hey ho, you do you! I'll continue to support my country and the Head Coach who has done an excellent job. We certainly will never agree on several of your other points as frankly they are wrong and would be laughed at by people within football. As I said I suspect the WC qualification will be his last tournament and then you'll be able to back whoever they manage to bring in to replace him who will be under a lot of pressure to replicate his record. I’ll say it again, as you clearly don’t understand what a quotation is - I only quoted you once. The only thing laughable on this thread is your constant defence of the indefensible. But you carry on supporting the head coach, that’s up to you but for consistency I’m not sure why you couldn’t carry on supporting the Hearts head coach who did an excellent job last season? If you genuinely can’t see the similarities with both Naismith and Clarke falling off a cliff then it’s probably best to leave it there. Both should have gone by now but I suspect the only reason that Clarke hasn’t is down to the SFA’s lack of finances. Your arguments / defence of Clarke come across as very patronising and juvenile at times, like “will never agree on several of your other points as frankly they are wrong and would be laughed at by people within football” (and see - that is an actual quotation!). You try to make out that you have a superior knowledge of football than the other JKP posters yet you seem to think that a guy in the 3rd tier of English football is going to come back and solve a lot of Scotland’s problems up front. It’s quite funny really but I’ll leave you to your staunch defence and childish put downs to any other posters who dare debate with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 48 minutes ago, Diadora Van Basten said: Glad Devlin came into the squad. Ralston was the worst player in the tournament at the Euros. I felt sorry for him. We shouldn’t be relying on starters that can’t get a game for their club (same with Nathan Paterson when fit). It’s unfair on them but not their fault they keep getting picked. So by all means let’s see what Devlin or someone else (Johnston?) playing week in week out can do instead of a guy who is becoming a bit of a liability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 (edited) 32 minutes ago, Fozzyonthefence said: I’ll say it again, as you clearly don’t understand what a quotation is - I only quoted you once. The only thing laughable on this thread is your constant defence of the indefensible. But you carry on supporting the head coach, that’s up to you but for consistency I’m not sure why you couldn’t carry on supporting the Hearts head coach who did an excellent job last season? If you genuinely can’t see the similarities with both Naismith and Clarke falling off a cliff then it’s probably best to leave it there. Both should have gone by now but I suspect the only reason that Clarke hasn’t is down to the SFA’s lack of finances. Your arguments / defence of Clarke come across as very patronising and juvenile at times, like “will never agree on several of your other points as frankly they are wrong and would be laughed at by people within football” (and see - that is an actual quotation!). You try to make out that you have a superior knowledge of football than the other JKP posters yet you seem to think that a guy in the 3rd tier of English football is going to come back and solve a lot of Scotland’s problems up front. It’s quite funny really but I’ll leave you to your staunch defence and childish put downs to any other posters who dare debate with you. Hope that felt good. Still complete nonsense though! "As for injuries, yes Scotland have them (but it’s an exaggeration to say we had 6 or 7 key starters missing at the Euros - Hickey and then Tierney during it were big misses but please don’t say Dykes was a big miss or you just lose credibility!)". Hmmmmm a good example of complete and utter misrepresentation on anything said about the Euros! And yes most people in football would laugh at your opinion on a number of Scotland players, in this instance the example would be Dykes, who was badly missed at the Euro's. That we find ourselves still needing to use him is because quite simply there is nobody capable of contributing what he does - a huge indictment on youth football and the options we have coming through - Hearts as guilty as any sizeable club in Scotland, as evidenced by the hopeless standard of young players we've seen come into our first team! Re Naismith comparing a club Head Coach and a National Head Coach is plain silly. The jobs are completely different day to day and Clarke has still, despite your claims, been a very successful Scotland coach in relation to competitive qualifying fixtures. Naismith got more than enough opportunity to turn things around and against largely modest opposition. He was always out of his depth but deserved credit for a string of results last season. 1 win 15 domestic matches is an abysmal run though and he deserved the sack. Should Clarke fail to get us to at least a WC play off next year then his reign, despite some successes, will also end. I suspect a hugely understrength side will lose the 2 upcoming games in October before then though which will allow you to have a couple of enjoyable evenings! Edited October 2 by Luckies1874 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boag1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 7 hours ago, Fozzyonthefence said: Yes Adams is doing well this season but he wasn’t playing at a high level last season and was hardly prolific having dropped down a league. Dykes is utter pony and should be nowhere near the Scotland team. The fact he is now playing and not scoring in the English 3rd tier tells us all we need to know about his ability. If you think we should be playing a huddy up front to shell high balls at then why not go with McBurnie? At least he’s playing at a much higher level (no, I don’t want him either). The fact you can’t acknowledge the comparison between Naismith and Clarke just shows your bias. It was a very reasonable comparison to make. You use the excuse of Scotland having had difficult fixtures but fail to acknowledge that Hearts have also had a difficult run of fixtures (6 of our winless games have been against Rangers, Celtic and Plzen). He got us to two Euros yes but one was extremely fortunate, through the back door (after failing the proper qualification group), via draws and penalty shoot outs against the mighty Israel then Serbia. The second qualification was excellent and I thought Clarke (like Naismith) had cracked it. But again at the Euros (like last time) he looked out of his depth and didn’t have a clue how to change it (again, see similarities with Naismith). “Disappointing” is quite the understatement to describe the Euros performances - it was an abject embarrassment and he should have been sacked immediately. As for injuries, yes Scotland have them (but it’s an exaggeration to say we had 6 or 7 key starters missing at the Euros - Hickey and then Tierney during it were big misses but please don’t say Dykes was a big miss or you just lose credibility!). Hearts have had injuries to key players too. Every team gets injuries, it’s up to good managers to cope with them. Naismith couldn’t and rightly got punted. Clarke couldn’t and wrongly didn’t. Dykes is a huge player for Scotland and has been absolutely key to the vast majority of our best wins since about 2020. We were very poor in Germany especially in the crunch game v a pretty guff Hungary side & it was about way more than just Dykes but he would have 100% improved us. Clarke has a tactic which with everyone fit has largely paid off - is it pretty? Absolutely not but it's been effective & Dykes fits that tactic like a glove, sadly rather than try to adapt it Clarke shoved Adams into the Dykes role, which Adams can't fulfil despite being quite obviously a better footballer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckies1874 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 1 minute ago, boag1874 said: Dykes is a huge player for Scotland and has been absolutely key to the vast majority of our best wins since about 2020. We were very poor in Germany especially in the crunch game v a pretty guff Hungary side & it was about way more than just Dykes but he would have 100% improved us. Clarke has a tactic which with everyone fit has largely paid off - is it pretty? Absolutely not but it's been effective & Dykes fits that tactic like a glove, sadly rather than try to adapt it Clarke shoved Adams into the Dykes role, which Adams can't fulfil despite being quite obviously a better footballer. Some sanity. As you say Dykes has played a massive part in some of our best results and performances. The Dykes injury in training pre tournament was a monumental blow. Clarke didn't do a good job adapting from it and neither did the players, that is completely fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ1984 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 8 hours ago, Fozzyonthefence said: Cooper and Jack were both laughably in the Euros squad and, iirc, they, with Forrest and Ralston, only started around 7 or 8 games over the whole season, that’s why I made the comparison. Had something happened (injury / red card) to the first two choices we would have ended up in the ridiculous situation of relying on Kelly instead of the tried and proven Gordon. That’s poor management. Why laughably? Jack played 22 times last season, Cooper 19 and Craig played 7. James Forrest, despite only starting 8 games came off the bench in many of the games and played very well. If something happened ie freak injuries to 2 goalkeepers another could be called up. Calling it poor management incase two keepers ahead of both Gordon and Kelly at the time get injured is clutching also. Some will never be happy with Clarke. Gordon being called up again and people still losing it proves that. He wasn't in the squad last time and folk lost it with that too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJ1984 Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 6 hours ago, Mikey1874 said: The guy who played his first 100 games at right back, John Souttar for example. But someone who plays regularly would be a start. Souttar had never played right back at international level ever. Lets just change his position for a laugh when he didn't have the best season for the huns at centre half either? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzyonthefence Posted October 2 Share Posted October 2 (edited) 59 minutes ago, JJ1984 said: Why laughably? Jack played 22 times last season, Cooper 19 and Craig played 7. James Forrest, despite only starting 8 games came off the bench in many of the games and played very well. If something happened ie freak injuries to 2 goalkeepers another could be called up. Calling it poor management incase two keepers ahead of both Gordon and Kelly at the time get injured is clutching also. Some will never be happy with Clarke. Gordon being called up again and people still losing it proves that. He wasn't in the squad last time and folk lost it with that too. I said starts. Jack started nowhere near 22 games. He only averaged 50 minutes in those appearances and played the equivalent of 5 league games in terms of minutes. And he’s pish. Cooper averaged 53 minutes in his 19 appearances and only around 8 league games. And he’s pish. Ralston started only 8 games (6 league games). And he’s pish. And Ben Doak played 345 minutes (including 70 in the EFL Trophy) all season yet made the plane to Germany! If that’s enough for an uncapped / one cap youngster then I don’t see how you can make the counter argument that 7 full games for Gordon isn’t enough especially when all the other options, including Gunn, are nowhere near international class. It’s hypocrisy. Edited October 2 by Fozzyonthefence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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