Scotland Squad v Georgia/Italy

[Scottish_Morton]

Goalkeepers
Neil Alexander (Cardiff City)
Craig Gordon (Heart of Midlothian)
Allan McGregor (Rangers)
Iain Turner (Everton)

Defenders
Graham Alexander (Preston North End)
Russell Anderson (Aberdeen)
Gary Caldwell (Celtic)
Christian Dailly (West Ham United)
Stephen McManus (Celtic)
Jackie McNamara (Wolverhampton W.)
Graeme Murty (Reading)
Gary Naysmith (Everton)
Steven Pressley (Celtic)
David Weir (Rangers)

Midfield
Scott Brown (Hibernian)
Chris Burke (Rangers)
Barry Ferguson (Rangers)
Paul Hartley (Celtic)
Lee McCulloch (Wigan Athletic)
Nigel Quashie (West Ham United)
Scott Severin (Aberdeen)
Gary Teale (Derby County)

Forwards
Craig Beattie (Celtic)
Kris Boyd (Rangers)
Shaun Maloney (Aston Villa)
Kenny Miller (Celtic)

I have a few issues. First, why 4 goalkeepers? And why no Kevin McNaughton? He has been better than McNamara and Alexander in the Championship this season. I had hoped Teale's move to Derby would've taken him out of the picture, he hasn't even played that well for them. Why no Kevin Thomson? And why Scott Severin instead?

I'm not sure what Craig Beattie has done to warrant a place, but anything other than Steve Thompson.

[Benin Dahomey]

its good to see maloney in the squad. seems like the obvious replacement for mcfadden. as for who is going to play instead of fletcher, i would like to see brown in there, but might be a risk against italy with his lack of experience.

i would also like to o'conner back (probably instead of beattie), forgive and forget. his fall out was with walter smith anyway.

all in all, i'm pretty confident with the squad going into these games.

[justboy]

I think i would have liked to have seen Stevie Naismith included in the squad - even if it was just to get the experience at that level - not necesarily for him to get a game.

[Scottish_Morton]

its good to see maloney in the squad. seems like the obvious replacement for mcfadden. as for who is going to play instead of fletcher, i would like to see brown in there, but might be a risk against italy with his lack of experience.

i would also like to o'conner back (probably instead of beattie), forgive and forget. his fall out was with walter smith anyway.

all in all, i'm pretty confident with the squad going into these games.

I think O'Conner is injured, just had an operation I think. I'm confident he'll be back in when fully fit.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

I'm just happy Burke is involved. Not sure how I would approach the games formation wise though.

[jpick]

not sure where to put this, so if misplaced I apologize. anyways, the italy squad has been named and when I was trying to think of formations, a problem came as I was unsure of some things as I don't know as much about scotland as some other teams, and even less post-smith.

For instance, how strong scotland was in the air. In the milan-celtic game, ancelotti was afraid of celtic in the air and played ambrosini because he is an aerial specialist (well, that is unfair, he is good in other ways, but very useful in the air). Hence, if the same is true for scotland, he becomes a more attractive option. also, do you guys play a 4-5-1, in which case ballwinners for italy become more essential, cause a 4-3-1-2 trident or something to that effect could get overrun possibly in the midfield versus that formation, etc. anyways, look forward to your thoughts and just giving you the heads up that discussion is open on the italy boards if you so desire to join. cheers

[Scottish_Morton]

I really don't know what team or formation we'll play, so it's really hard to answer any of those questions.

We scored against France from a corner, Italy will definitely need to watch us from set-pieces. But there isn't really too much height in the team. If McCulloch plays he'll provide an aerial threat, but I hope he doesn't play, he really doesn't give us much else. Weir, and whoever plays with him at the back (hopefully Anderson) are big but not much of an attacking threat at set pieces. But Hartley can put in some great crosses from corners and free-kicks.

We're likely to pack the midfield and start with Miller as a lone striker. He's a hard worker and a pain in the arse for defenders. Decent international goalscoring record too. Hopefully Chris Burke will play, great wee winger.

We're missing Fletcher and McFadden, which is a big blow. 4-5-1 or 5-4-1 formation for us. Very defensive in any case. I'd say Italy will struggle to break us down, and their best chance is from set-pieces.

I'd guess the team we will play against Italy will be something like:

__________________Gordon

Dailly____Pressley____Weir____Anderson____Naysmith

Hartley_____Ferguson_____Quashie____McCulloch

__________________Miller

Hopefully Burke will start in front of McCulloch, and hopefully Murty instead of Dailly, and Anderson probably won't start, but he should. But this is my best guess.

[nach0king]

Wouldn't mind seeing McManus play ahead of Pressley or Weir, just to add a wee bit of pace to the back line. I agree that Anderson should start (although he was poor at the weekend.)

[celtic76]

Wouldn't mind seeing McManus play ahead of Pressley or Weir, just to add a wee bit of pace to the back line. I agree that Anderson should start (although he was poor at the weekend.)

McManus should definantly start over Pressley or Wier. Beattie shouldn't even be listed but i guess you have to name fit forwads and then there is Miller. With two out of the four forwards not even being able to buy a goal right now this doesn't give me a vote of confidence against Italy. :(

[Scottish_Morton]

Quashie is out injured. I don't know who will start instead of him, I would be much more comfortable if Thomson was in the squad.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Severin...? :(

I would be tempted to stick Brown in because of his hustling nature but I don't think he could be trusted to behave or be tactically disciplined in a central midfield role. Looks like Dailly would probably be a better bet.

[Gordon EF]

Gordon
Daily Pressley Weir Naysmith
Burke Ferguson Hartely McCulloch
Boyd Miller


That's probably the line up I would go for against Georgia. I would like to see guys like Anderson, McManus, Brown and Maloney get a go the team but I think we've got to go with the tried and tested team in such a must-win game.

Pace at the back is maybe an issue but with Shota Arvaladze being their main threat up front, a lack of pace perhaps won't be punished as ruthlessly as against some other teams.

[Scottish_Morton]

McManus will start against Georgia. I'm happy in a way, he's a definite goal threat. But i'm gutted if it means Anderson won't start, what does the big guy have to do? Although I'll be delighted if the two start together!

Miller and Boyd up front, i'm not sure about them as a partnership, I probably would've preferred 1 of them supported by two wider players. But it's a fair enough choice, the obvious choice for going 4-4-2.

[Borussia]

Good luck for the game at Hampden! I hope you'll get the vital win.

[Scottish_Morton]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6495949.stm

Great news if Brown starts as far as I'm concerned, especially if he comes in for Teale. Although it does occur to me that he could just come in for Boyd and be put into a 5 man midfield.

I'd like to see Burke and/or Maloney come into the side too, it would be great if we went for something like this:

_______________Gordon

Murty____Pressley____McManus____Naysmith

Burke___Brown___Ferguson___Hartley___McCulloch/Maloney

________________Miller

I kind of expect 4-1-4-1, or 5-4-1, with Dailly or Pressley coming in for Boyd, and Brown coming in for Teale. Whatever the case, we're gonna have to get it spot on to compete with Italy.

[Gordon EF]

There's three options I think. 5-4-1, 4-1-4-1 or 4-5-1

If it's 5-4-1, I'd imagine it'll be

Gordon
Alexander, Pressley, Weir, McManus, Naysmith
Brown, Ferguson, Hartley, McCulloch
Miller

4-1-4-1 Would probably be the same but Christian Dailly sitting in front of a back 4 minus Pressley.

A 4-5-1 could be a fairly adventurous formation that Big Eck was talking about.

Gordon
Alexander, Weir, McManus, Naysmith
Brown, Ferguson, Hartley, McCulloch, Maloney
Miller

[Teso Dos Bichos]

---------------- Miller
Maloney ----------------------- Burke
----- Hartley - Ferguson - Brown
Naysmith - McManus - Pressley - Murty
---------------- Gordon


That is the best that we can hope for. Solid when in defense as it is a 4-5-1 but when attacking it becomes a 4-3-3 with Maloney and Burke pushed well forward to support Miller.

[lovingthegreen]

Does anybody know of a way to follow the Italy game on the Internet? (if not video or audio, at least live stats)

[Scottish_Morton]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6495949.stm

It's gonna be 4-1-4-1:

_______________Gordon

Alexander__Pressley___Weir___Naysmith

________________Dailly

Brown___Ferguson____Hartley___McCulloch

________________Miller

TBH I think we have enough good players not there (like Faddy, Fletch, Burke, Maloney, Boyd, Quashie, Thomson, McManus, Anderson, Webster, McNaughton, Murty), that we could find a team that would beat this one easily. Alexander, Weir and Dailly are past it, Pressley is too slow, McCulloch is a donkey, Miller is a headless chicken (although can sometimes be effective in this).

We can still win though...or maybe not...

[Burkies Ginger Mop]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6495949.stm

It's gonna be 4-1-4-1:

_______________Gordon

Alexander__Pressley___Weir___Naysmith

________________Dailly

Brown___Ferguson____Hartley___McCulloch

________________Miller

TBH I think we have enough good players not there (like Faddy, Fletch, Burke, Maloney, Boyd, Quashie, Thomson, McManus, Anderson, Webster, McNaughton, Murty), that we could find a team that would beat this one easily. Alexander, Weir and Dailly are past it, Pressley is too slow, McCulloch is a donkey, Miller is a headless chicken (although can sometimes be effective in this).

We can still win though...or maybe not...

I'll go for getting beat but playing well. That old chesnut. McCulloch is a donkey.