All Things Scottish Football

Steve Clarke's Scotland side are two games away from creating history and ending twenty-two years of hurt for the nation. Thursday night's play-off sees Scotland take on Israel once again at Hampden, this time with the lucrative final against Norway or Serbia up for grabs. It was Alex McLeish who guided the team into this position but with lackluster performances following that many had lost faith in him to go the distance and make the Euro's. The arrival of Clarke did not tame the countless questions surrounding formation, selection and tactics, and although results have been positive recently, those questions still remain. This article shall dissect some of the big conundrums facing the Scotland boss as we set ourselves up for the big occasion. Continuing with the back three? If you haven't sat with your mates or tuned into a fiery debate on the radio on how Scotland shoe-horn both Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson, then quite frankly ... I don't believe you. This...

Scotland's game against San Marino was seen by many as a damp squib with results recently in a campaign branded a disaster. The weather also played it's hand with the heavens opening making it more of a flooded squib than a damp one ... ok, bad jokes over. This post isn't getting carried away with Scotland’s 6-0 victory over the worst-ranked team, however, there are positives to take from it as we go into a big year for the national side. Steve Clarke set out his side with a few first starts in Lawrence Shankland and Stuart Findlay and in these two we have our first positive note. Both players managed to get themselves on the score sheet and put in encouraging performances. Shankland looked hungry and eager to get himself on the ball and bring others into play as much as wanting to get on the scoreboard himself. That desire is something the number nine shirt hasn't had with a few players. Also, Findlay dubbing his goal and becoming only the third Kilmarnock p...

Scotland have not been blessed with a prolific number nine for many years now, however, the current options that Steve Clarke has for the upcoming Russia game may prove to be the lightest we have had in a while. With Leigh Griffths still unavailable for the national team, along with Steven Fletcher, the obvious choice would be Scotland's most expensive player, Oli McBurnie. Despite not being well loved by the Tartan Army, the Sheffield United man would no doubt be our number one option hadn't he pulled out through injury earlier this week. Those drop-outs and injuries leave three men in contention to lead the line in Russia; Oliver Burke, Johnny Russell and Lawrence Shankland. This blog will delve into a few and ultimately, make a call on who should start. After falling out of favor at Celtic, Burke returned to his parent club, West Brom, only to be loaned back out to Alaves in Spain. He missed out on the last Scotland squad due to the lack of playing team he had at th...