Shankland.

Scottish, scores goals, creates goals.

But probably not suited to Steve Clarke's swashbuckling style.

He'll likely take 2 extra goalies and call up 3 players no-one has ever heard of before

I was quite impressed by Hirst in the recent friendly but have voted for Burke. We are so one-paced especially if Doak is unavailable.

I noticed Ross Stewart scored again for Southampton at the weekend.

It strikes me that for the first time in many, many years we actually have a plethora of attacking options.

Dykes
Adams
Shankland
McBurnie
Burke
Stewart
Bowie
Nisbet
Hirst
Conway

Tek wrote:

I should probably have added Kieron Bowie's name into that poll.

He just scored away at Juventus tonight for Hellas Verona.

Scored in the San Siro tonight against Inter.

Now scored against Juve, Bologna and now Internazionale in recent times.

His form is starting to look very impressive and just at the right time.
 

Stewart Hirst and Shankland make the squad.

Conway was always going to miss out after the ankle injury he got last week.
A shame because he looks a good player coming off the left.

Edit to add. The 3 selected goalkeepers have played a total of 15 games between them this season. I suppose they'll all get minutes in the upcoming friendlies but it's still a concern.

Last edited by redford_must_score (19/5/2026 1:22 pm)

Surely that is Shankland now the starting No. 9 in most games.

Don’t trust Clarke at all. Will be Adams.

Also really like dykes. He gets us up the pitch and brings others into the game. For me that is one of the reasons our midfield have scored so many goals under Clarke. In games like Brazil where we won’t have much of the ball I would start with him.

David_Blunkett wrote:

Shankland starts v Haiti, no doubt, in the other two games where we might need to subby on our own ball, he'd be no use.

How Scotland approach the 1st game will be crucial, not just for progression at the tournament, but on how Clarke even tries to maintain the support of fans going forward.

Yesterday was played a bit like a training game, I get that no-one wants injured, it's at the end of a long season, but I only saw the first half hour, turgid, dull uninspiring stuff and the goal they scored was unbelievably simple.

32 of 48 teams make the knockouts, the expansion of the tournament has made qualifying and getting out the groups once there, easier than ever. He has to have them fired up, to come out the traps v Haiti, to get a goal, force them to open up, but how often has that ever been the case?

 

 
I think that sums up pretty well how many fans are feeling.
It's completely illogical but if Clarke was easier to like it might be easier to forgive some of his flaws. See in his post match interview he talked about "the players "not doing themselves justice in Germany,  not "we didn't do ourselves justice in Germany". What a knut.

It's a pity the Curacao game ended up 11v10 because up to the sending off they looked powerful dangerous and up for it, would we still have ended up winning?
On the other hand we played without 3 certain starters in Robertson McTominay and McGinn.

I think Clarke's success has coincided with having the best group of players for decades but maybe that's just a coincidence.
The first game v Haiti offers an enormous opportunity but it's also the type of banana skin we've been known to fall on.
We need to attack and finish them clinically if we're going to face Morocco with confidence. In Doak and Curtis we've unearthed 2 players who can offer something unpredictable compared to what we've always gone with, maybe just maybe.....

Haiti just massacred New Zealand in a warm up friendly last night.
This means 2 holding defensive midfielders 😎

japanarab wrote:

As much stick as Clarke gets it sounds like the players absolutely love him. I watched the recent SFA documentary on YouTube and they were all mentioning the speech he gave before the Denmark game and how inspiring it was. 

Im amazed at Fletcher getting in to replace Gilmour. That’s a head scratcher. He’s played less than 20 minutes senior football ever? 

I think Clarke has always known that he’s on a hiding to nothing in terms of media and public opinion. His dour, somewhat monosyllabic responses just reflect he will be slaughtered at some point.

Let’s be honest, who actually thought playing Grant Hanley was a good idea? He played really well. Clarke believes in continuity, as opposed to playing his best team. It’s easy to underestimate the benefits of the length of time a squad spend together.

We do have a great midfield, however with an aging defence and limited options up front, I still think it will take some exceptional performances for us to qualify for the next round.

As far as Fletcher is concerned I think it simply boils down to the fact that Clarke is more familiar with him as opposed to Lennon Miller.