Two Big Scotland Squads - But, One Strange Omission

WEE Gordon Strachan today summoned "the stenographers" to learn the identities of the players who will feature in this month's two "International Challenge Matches", these are friendlies to you and me.

The Wee Man has certainly cast his net widely in an effort to begin formulating a squad which just might be able to get us to the next World Cup finals.

The selected squads are:

Czech Republic vs Scotland

Thursday 24th March 2016, kick-off 7.45pm, Stadion Letnà, Prague

 
Goalkeepers
Scott Bain (Dundee)   
Allan McGregor (Hull City)   

Defenders
Christophe Berra (Ipswich Town)   
Gordon Greer (Brighton and Hove Albion)   
Alan Hutton (Aston Villa)   
Russell Martin (Norwich City)   
Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)   
Andrew Robertson (Hull City)   
Steven Whittaker (Norwich City)   

Midfielders
Ikechi Anya (Watford)   
Barry Bannan (Sheffield Wednesday)   
Darren Fletcher (West Bromwich Albion)    
Kevin McDonald (Wolverhampton Wanderers)   
Kenny McLean (Aberdeen)
Matt Phillips (Queens Park Rangers)   
Robert Snodgrass (Hull City)   

Forwards   
Steven Fletcher (Olympique de Marseille)   
Steven Naismith (Norwich City)   
Tony Watt (Blackburn Rovers)
 

Scotland vs Denmark
Tuesday 29th March 2016, kick-off 8pm, Hampden Park, Glasgow

Goalkeepers
Craig Gordon (Celtic)   
David Marshall (Cardiff City)   
Defenders
Ikechi Anya (Watford)   
Liam Cooper (Leeds United)   
Gordon Greer (Brighton and Hove Albion)   
Grant Hanley (Blackburn Rovers)   
Charlie Mulgrew (Celtic)   
Kieran Tierney (Celtic)
Steven Whittaker (Norwich City)   
Midfielders
Liam Bridcutt (Leeds United)   
Scott Brown (Celtic)   
Oliver Burke (Nottingham Forest)   
James Forrest (Celtic)   
John McGinn (Hibernian)   
Jamie Murphy (Brighton and Hove Albion)   
Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)   
Forwards   
Steven Fletcher (Olympique de Marseille)   
Leigh Griffiths (Celtic)   
Chris Martin (Derby County)

That's 31 players, across the two squads, pretty-much every fit, international-class, Scotland qualified player you can think of - IF you believe we still have 31 international-class players.

Me, with my over 50-years of being disappointed by Scotland teams. Sorry, I don't think we ever had, at least since World War II, over 30 international-class players. And I certainly KNOW, right now, some of those named simply are not up to the challenges of international football.

Which makes the absence of a single name from the squad, a puzzler to me. If Gordon Strachan is really trying to say Lee Wallace isn't good enough to get a game in either of these two matches, then, I am afraid, the Wee Man is having a laugh.   

Kieran Tierney of Celtic is indeed th future as far as the Scotland left-back slot is concerned. I have no qualms about Strachan blooding him against the Danes at Hampden. But, surely Wallace is worth his place on his form this season. I do not understand his absence.

Lee Wallace - his absence from the Scotland squad surprises me

 

WHEN you study the breadth and depth of Scottish football - from the national team and the Bigot Brothers down to the grass-roots, which run very deep indeed, there is a lot going on.

Which makes one wonder, why do the Scottish papers give so much room to the English Premiership - a competition which is pretty much a Scots-free zone?

Well, of course, it is far-easier for today's bone-idle Scottish production journalists, to simply copy and paste a lot of the acres of pish produced by the Press Association and kindred agencies, as pure propaganda for: "The Greatest League In The World". Aye right.

The English Premiership is about as English as Chicken Tikka Masala, but, hey, let's not allow the facts to get in the way. Mind you, even when, in the pre-Premiership days of the old Football League First Division, when Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and in particular Liverpool were genuine powers in European football - "English Football" had a distinctly tartan background. But, let's not labour the point, Better Together and all that. 

Thus, I was delighted last night when Chelsea, an "English" team, owned by a Russian oligarth, managed by a Dutchman, playing out of West London and with a mere one Englishman in their starting line-up was dumped out of Europe by a "French" team which also included a large sprinkling of non-French players in their line-up.

I have never been a great Chelsea fan, so, I was not unhappy when they failed to live-up to the Premiershp hype in Europe. However, I was delighted to see one of my favourite players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic deal the killer blow.

 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - He da man

Of course he has an ego the size of Jupiter, but, the Swedish Croat is a player. Once again, last night, he showed his genuine class, with the assist for PSG's first goal, before personally scoring the second.

The English footbal media has never taken to Zlatan, but, what do they know - they have history in over-hyping very ordinary players, simply because they were English.