Tartan blood

Gordon starting again for Hearts. Seems like he has clawed back that number 1 jersey from Clark just in time for the Euros.

Don't get me wrong, I think McGregor is a brilliant player on his day. I just wouldn't put him in the same bracket as the others I mentioned. I'd happily have Christie in beside Gilmour as well. I wonder if Clarke will look at our last 2 losses and correlate that with McGregor being missing. I'm not convinced he would have made that much of a difference, but Clarke might.

Spot on. Armstrong might be the most sickening one (so far). He pretty much always makes a positive impact off the bench. It's comforting knowing you have players of that quality to call upon. You mentioned "injured/tired/bookings" but there is also the very real possibility that our superstars just have a bad game as well, and need to be hooked. As much as I love John McGinn, he has had the odd off-day. As you say, that is worsened if Ralston is the one having a bad game since there is no realistic replacement. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up seeing Jack Hendry getting shoe-horned into RWB at some stage.

I was going to say exactly this. In my opinion, we currently have 6 undroppable players that will start regardless of game time at their clubs - McTominay, McGinn, Tierney, Robertson, Gilmour and Hickey. Gilmour and Hickey are new to this list, but I genuinely think they are that good. These are the 6 that will make me sick if we lose more than one of them. McGregor, although a great player, is slightly behind. I'd actually put him in the same bracket as Christie. A probable starter, but we'd manage without.

Considering probably half his caps are sub appearances, that is very good stats. He played a pivotal role in our nations league campaign that got us to our first Euros. And he came on and set up 2 goals to ensure a victory over Ukraine as well. That's just off the top of my head. If squads do end up being 26, it would be mad not to take him.

I get that you don't like him but that simply isn't true. I don't know his Scotland stats, but he has multiple goals and assists to his name. Like Armstrong, he always has some form of an impact off the bench. He does go past players, but he very often draws fouls due to his trickery and stature, which can be quite valuable. (if we had a good freekick taker) In my opinion, subs should be utilised to change things up when plan A or B isn't working. We want players that will do something completely different to what's on the field. That's why I'd take Fraser, and maybe even Turnbull if he can find his form before the end of the season.

Craig Gordon starting in goals ahead of Zander Clark today.... Maybe a late push from him to be 2nd in the pecking order at the Euros?

Well said. The previous statement about getting regular game time would apply to guys playing for SPFL, championship and lower EPL, maybe. However, this is a special case. He was in pretty much every match day squad for Liverpool, getting minutes here and there and even had a few starts in cup games. Liverpool's squad is riddled with players that cost up to (or are valued at) £100m. So the fact he was entrusted among all that talent is incredible. We'd all be saying the same thing about Barry Hepburn and Liam Morrison if they'd managed to get minutes for Bayern Munich at 17. We did say the same thing about Gilmour at Chelsea. Darren Fletcher also got full caps for us before he was a regular at Man Utd as well.

If you posted this on here 3 years ago and replaced Liverpool with Chelsea, and be talking about Gilmour, it would be identical circumstances. I wouldn't necessarily write him off completely. However, we do have a significantly bigger and stronger pool of players to choose from now. So pretty unlikely he'd get in the squad unless he did something really dramatic.

Ben Doak has posted a photo of himself out on the training pitch. No idea if that means his return is imminent or still a while away. Seems almost impossible that he'll be up for consideration for the Euros. However we were all saying the exact same thing about Gilmour at this stage of the season in 2021... The possible increased squad size could mean Clarke could put a wildcard up his sleeve.

This is the best part about having a 26 man squad. Having just 1 replacement for every position means you kind of have to be a bit more pragmatic and maybe prioritise utility players over luxury ones. Fraser is very much a luxury player, and I mean that as a compliment. It's unlikely he'll start any games but he is the perfect type of player to bring on when Plan A and B aren't working and we just need a moment of magic. I'd put Turnbull in that category as well. His form doesn't justify a place, yet, but if he starts banging in goals for Cardiff before the end of the season, I'd consider taking him as one of the bonus 3.

I'm not against McBurnie being chosen, and, although he hasn't scored for us, he did have a handful of decent performances. However, as you say, his form isn't quite strong enough to justify inclusion. If I'm not mistaken, 2 of his 6 goals have been penalties. 4 open play goals is not a compelling argument. If the squads do increase, I'd rather have the likes of Fraser, Souttar and Ralston being included rather than another non-scoring striker. I also wouldn't be against doing what Clarke did last time and take along future stars for the experience. E.g Max Johnstone, Doig, Doak (if fit again).

The Scotland stats are exactly why Dykes will remain in front of him in the pecking order. Clarke rewards consistent form at club level, but he doesn't make big changes based on purple patches. See Turnbull, Ralston, Souttar. They all got call ups eventually, but they had to bide their time and show it wasn't temporary. McBurnie is probably 4th in the queue right now, I'd imagine, so it'll take an injury for him to get into the final 23.

I actually wrote Old Firm first then changed it thinking it might offend some people 😂

3 Scots starting in the Glasgow derby today: Taylor, Wright and Souttar. There is a pretty good chance none of them will make the final Euros squad. I almost created a new topic about this. I really can't see why the SFA would not think a homegrown player rule would be a good idea. If the 2 richest teams in Scotland had an incentive to spend their money on Scots, then a lot of the money they generate would stay in Scotland, rather than going to other countries. Imagine a rule existed right now. Celtic and Rangers would end up in a bidding war for Lennon Miller at the end of the season. Rangers might have made more of an effort to sign Shankland in January. Both Hearts and Motherwell would benefit financially. They would then reinvest in developing more Scots to replace the ones they lost.