Scotland Euro 2024 Squad and Discussion

[SilentWitness]

Goalkeepers: Angus Gunn (Norwich City), Zander Clark (Hearts), Craig Gordon (Hearts), Liam Kelly (Motherwell).

Defenders: Andy Robertson (Liverpool), Kieran Tierney (Real Sociedad), Jack Hendry (Al Ettifaq), Ryan Porteous (Watford), Liam Cooper (Leeds United), Scott McKenna (FC Copenhagen), Grant Hanley (Norwich City), Greg Taylor (Celtic), John Souttar (Rangers), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Ross McCrorie (Bristol City).

Midfielders: Callum McGregor (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Billy Gilmour (Brighton & Hove Albion), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Jack (Rangers).

Forwards: Lyndon Dykes (Queen's Park Rangers), Che Adams (Southampton), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), Ben Doak (Liverpool), James Forrest (Celtic).​

 

[baskinginthesun]

Announced on Wednesday.

Hickey, Patterson and Ferguson all confirmed to be out through injury. That's gutting as Hickey is vital to that 5 at the back set up and Ferguson has arguably been the best performing Scot this season.

Read somewhere that James Forrest could be an option at RB. But Ross McCrorie or Liam Palmer are the more appropriate choices.

Lack of a proper forward will hinder us again. The goals have dried up from McTominey and McGinn so we really need to find another outlet in order to get out of the group.

 

[SilentWitness]

Read somewhere that James Forrest could be an option at RB. But Ross McCrorie or Liam Palmer are the more appropriate choices.

Lack of a proper forward will hinder us again. The goals have dried up from McTominey and McGinn so we really need to find another outlet in order to get out of the group.

He just needs to trust in Shankland more. He's had two great seasons back to back for Hearts and he's ready to be first choice striker.

 

[Gio]

Not great news. Ideally we needed a fair wind with injuries rather than losing all of our quality at RWB and our best 8 of the year.

There's a big drop off after Hickey and Patterson. No doubt he'll pull in Ralston who is bang average. But I reckon Clarke would be best served by gambling on one of the athletic wide players like Forrest or Fraser there, rather than going down the converted CB-type route of O'Donnell or McRorie. That killed our football in the past and will make us easy to defend against.

Interesting question is which of the more unproven options he goes for - Doak, Gauld, Barron. I can't help but feel we will be in a situation where we need some creativity to unlock an opposition side happy to hold onto a one-goal lead. It would be great if we had a couple more creative options in the squad to avoid a repeat of the Northern Ireland fiasco last time out.

 

[TheGame]

Announced on Wednesday.

Hickey, Patterson and Ferguson all confirmed to be out through injury. That's gutting as Hickey is vital to that 5 at the back set up and Ferguson has arguably been the best performing Scot this season.

That's sad about Ferguson, he's been brilliant for Bologna.

 

[SilentWitness]

Not great news. Ideally we needed a fair wind with injuries rather than losing all of our quality at RWB and our best 8 of the year.

There's a big drop off after Hickey and Patterson. No doubt he'll pull in Ralston who is bang average. But I reckon Clarke would be best served by gambling on one of the athletic wide players like Forrest or Fraser there, rather than going down the converted CB-type route of O'Donnell or McRorie. That killed our football in the past and will make us easy to defend against.

Interesting question is which of the more unproven options he goes for - Doak, Gauld, Barron. I can't help but feel we will be in a situation where we need some creativity to unlock an opposition side happy to hold onto a one-goal lead. It would be great if we had a couple more creative options in the squad to avoid a repeat of the Northern Ireland fiasco last time out.

There are quite a few talented RBs and LBs around but they've all gone to clubs they don't really play / I'm not sure about them such as Max Johnston at Sturm Graz, Josh Doig at Sassuolo and Calvin Ramsay at Liverpool.

 

[Gio]

There are quite a few talented RBs and LBs around but they've all gone to clubs they don't really play / I'm not sure about them such as Max Johnston at Sturm Graz, Josh Doig at Sassuolo and Calvin Ramsay at Liverpool.

I'd definitely take Doig in the squad, perfect back-up for Robertson. Johnston would be worth a punt surely too. Shame about how Ramsay has struggled with injuries, playing regularly he would have slotted into this Scotland team.

 

[FootballHQ]

Announced on Wednesday.

Hickey, Patterson and Ferguson all confirmed to be out through injury. That's gutting as Hickey is vital to that 5 at the back set up and Ferguson has arguably been the best performing Scot this season.

Massive blow to lose both RBs. I can remember at the last Euros O'Donnell had a good game v England but I don't think he's been called up for ages. Ferguson has hardly played for Scotland so far, Gilmour-McGregor-McGinn-McTominay is pretty much set and none of them are getting dropped.

Funny looking at that Scotland team and McTominay was being played in the back 3 in those times. Now there's probably a fair shout to have him as a false 9 given all his goals in qualification?

Big problem for Scotland is they probably needed the Germany game to be last to have a serious chance of getting through. You can see their performances coming a mile off, they'll play incredibly v Germany but lose to a late goal and then be flat against Hungary and Swiss which are the games they need to be peak for.

Replicating Wales in the last Euros is what they need to do to get through the group.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Gutted about Ferguson and Hickey missing out. Quite worried now with regards to injuries. Also hope he just puts Shankland up front too.

 

[SilentWitness]

Massive blow to lose both RBs. I can remember at the last Euros O'Donnell had a good game v England but I don't think he's been called up for ages. Ferguson has hardly played for Scotland so far, Gilmour-McGregor-McGinn-McTominay is pretty much set and none of them are getting dropped.

Funny looking at that Scotland team and McTominay was being played in the back 3 in those times. Now there's probably a fair shout to have him as a false 9 given all his goals in qualification?

Nah. He just needs to play Shankland up front. Ferguson has been to good to ignore so he'd have been a great option for the squad. I think that's what's most frustrating about the injuries actually. We usually only have a good first xi and then a significant drop off to the bench but we had a decent squad with good options.

 

[Gio]

I suspect Clarke will start this against Germany:

Adams
Christie
McGinn - McTominay
Robertson - McGregor - Ralston
Tierney - Hendry - Porteous
Gunn
​

The 3-6-1 doesn't really play to Shankland's strengths and suits Adams more. But I'd prefer to see something like this that allows us to flood the midfield and support our best goalscorer.

Christie - Shankland
McGinn - McTominay
McGregor - Gilmour
Robertson - Tierney - Hendry - Johnston
Gunn​

 

[baskinginthesun]

He just needs to trust in Shankland more. He's had two great seasons back to back for Hearts and he's ready to be first choice striker.

I agree. Adams and Dykes have never been prolific for Scotland but, maybe Shankland is the answer to that. Plus, Dykes is more of a big man up front but, doesn't really threaten much unless he's fighting for a header for a wide player to run on to.

 

[SilentWitness]

Goalkeepers: Angus Gunn (Norwich City), Zander Clark (Hearts), Craig Gordon (Hearts), Liam Kelly (Motherwell).

Defenders: Andy Robertson (Liverpool), Kieran Tierney (Real Sociedad), Jack Hendry (Al Ettifaq), Ryan Porteous (Watford), Liam Cooper (Leeds United), Scott McKenna (FC Copenhagen), Grant Hanley (Norwich City), Greg Taylor (Celtic), John Souttar (Rangers), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Ross McCrorie (Bristol City).

Midfielders: Callum McGregor (Celtic), Ryan Christie (Bournemouth), Billy Gilmour (Brighton & Hove Albion), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), Stuart Armstrong (Southampton), Ryan Jack (Rangers).

Forwards: Lyndon Dykes (Queen's Park Rangers), Che Adams (Southampton), Lawrence Shankland (Hearts), Ben Doak (Liverpool), James Forrest (Celtic).

 

[SilentWitness]

Only two players will be dropped so you'd expect one keeper and then one outfield player.

Interesting that Doak is in. Perhaps one of those defenders will end up missing out.

 

[baskinginthesun]

Is Tierney fit enough? I thought he had a season ending injury?

 

[Gio]

Those right-back options concern me.

 

[MrBrightside1989]

Big fitness issues for a few of them.
Armstrong, Hanley, Jack, Doak haven't played much football recently. Souttar is a walking injury.
Hope clarks loyalty pays off. Although the next in line options aren't great to be fair

 

[SilentWitness]

Those right-back options concern me.

It's a shame we seem unable to tempt Livramento.

 

[baskinginthesun]

Those right-back options concern me.

3rd and 4th choice picks. We have 2 really good RBs and both are injured. Not sure what else Clarke is supposed to do.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

It's a shame we seem unable to tempt Livramento.

What the feck? He’s eligible to play for us?

 

[SilentWitness]

What the feck? He’s eligible to play for us?

Yep, his mother is Scottish.

Players like Harvey Barnes and Elliot Anderson are decent and also eligible.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Yep, his mother is Scottish.

Damn. I never knew that. Where’s his dad from?

 

[SilentWitness]

Damn. I never knew that. Where’s his dad from?

Portuguese background. Eligible for all three but played for England at youth level. Barnes eligible through maternal grandparents, played one friendly for England.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Portuguese background. Eligible for all three but played for England at youth level. Barnes eligible through maternal grandparents, played one friendly for England.

Ah. Interesting.

 

[baskinginthesun]

Yep, his mother is Scottish.

Players like Harvey Barnes and Elliot Anderson are decent and also eligible.

What's more annoying us that they won't be getting much of a sniff in the current England setup.

 

[Bwuk]

RWB is a big concern for me.

Ralston is shite, I'd go for Forrest. Reading Bristol City fans forums, apparently Ross McCrorie wasn't great this year. At least with Forrest/Robertson at wing back we'd have plenty of pace.

I'm also not sure who to drop out of the midfield. I'd almost be tempted to stick McTominay upfront and flood the midfield with a 4 of McGinn/Christie/Gilmour/McGregor and focus on making us hard to beat.

 

[Vault Dweller]

I'm so excited now. My stag do begins on the same day as the game v Germany, so likely I'll be steaming by kick off but what I wouldn't give for a result there.

 

[SilentWitness]

Dykes off to get his leg scanned after being injured in training. Good start.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Dykes off to get his leg scanned after being injured in training. Good start.

Good grief.

 

[NoPace]

What's more annoying us that they won't be getting much of a sniff in the current England setup.

I think Livramaneto will get caps (if he stays healthy) because you might as well try out any talented player who has every played LB even if they are right-footed.

But Harvey Barnes, yeah, makes a ton of sense. You don't play with wingers, but he's not really good at anything on the wing other than scoring goals so it wouldn't shock me if he becomes a striker anyways in the 2nd half of his 20s.

 

[SilentWitness]

Dykes is officially out of the Euros now after a tackle in training.

Good grief.

 

[SilentWitness]

I think Livramaneto will get caps (if he stays healthy) because you might as well try out any talented player who has every played LB even if they are right-footed.

But Harvey Barnes, yeah, makes a ton of sense. You don't play with wingers, but he's not really good at anything on the wing other than scoring goals so it wouldn't shock me if he becomes a striker anyways in the 2nd half of his 20s.

I think Scotland can definitely utilise a 2 AM formation behind a striker with him in one of those roles (Barnes).

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Dykes is officially out of the Euros now after a tackle in training.

feck’s sake. Who’s gonna replace him?

 

[Bwuk]

feck’s sake. Who’s gonna replace him?

It'll just mean Che Adams starts for sure (I think he would have anyway).

 

[Bwuk]

I think Scotland can definitely utilise a 2 AM formation behind a striker with him in one of those roles (Barnes).

Elliot can f*ck off, but I imagine Clark will have enquired about Barnes and Livramento.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

It'll just mean Che Adams starts for sure (I think he would have anyway).

Shouldn’t Shankland be starting? He should, in my opinion.

 

[Gio]

Dykes is a useful option to have as certain defences cannot handle his physicality. But I was hoping we’d be focusing on Adams and Shankland and only turning to Dykes as a last resort. Lugging it up to the big man has never worked for us in major tournaments.

 

[Bwuk]

Shouldn’t Shankland be starting? He should, in my opinion.

No. Adams a better player.

 

[FootballHQ]

Shouldn’t Shankland be starting? He should, in my opinion.

They key for Scotland is to get the midfielders in the game as they're the ones who can actually score.

McTominay, McGinn. Those two are the ones you want the big chances falling to in the box v Swiss and Hungary. Funny now to look back at the last euros and McTominay was actually starting in a back 3.

I imagine they'll go with McGregor-Gilmour at the base and then those two plus one of Christie/Stuart Armstrong as the wider player. Christie's had a really good last six months playing for Bournemouth as a pressing CM so pretty versatile in the squad.

Think it will be Adams due to his movement at CF creating space for those behind him. This also increases the chance of Doak getting some minutes and there's always a young player in these tournaments who comes from relative obscurity and makes an impact.

 

[77]

I'm jumping on the Jock bandwagon for this one. Not had any luck following the other lot plus their fans are the biggest bunch of fanny twats on the planet.
Mon the Jocks!