Forum List | Football Forum
| Topic: Scotland Players now |
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| 1. Author: onandupthepars Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 22:47 I think we`ve got got good players. I don`t agree with posters who are claiming we`ve got a team full of players who play at a very high level for their clubs. According to this source: https://www.espn.co.uk/football/story/_/id/48769157/meet-scotland-2026-world-cup-squad-all-26-players-picked-steve-clarke-why Our players against Morocco: Gunn - last season played in only one match for Forest. Hendry - an important player for mid-table Saudi Pro League team Al Ettifaq. Hanley - Hibs. Tierney - Celtic, after `struggled to make his mark at Arsenal.` Patterson - `bit-part player` for Everton. Christie - `a key rotational option` at Bournemouth. last season 9 starts + 17 appearances as sub. Ferguson - Captain of ninth place Serie A team Bologna. McGinn - Villa. Robertson - Spurs, after starting 20 games + 16 as sub for Liverpool last season. McTominay - Napoli, 44 matches last season. Adams - Torino, 19 starts + 14 as sub. Dykes - Charlton Athletic. Stewart - Southampton. Gannon-Doak - `found game time hard to come by at Bournemouth`. McLean - Norwich City. Ralston - Celtic. others of note: McKenna - League winners Dinamo Zagreb. Hickey - `largely used off the bench for Brentford`. Good players, and I`m not criticising - I love `em - they`re all my brothers - but comparing them to the Morocco team we`ve just played - how many would get in Morocco`s team? None. How many Morocco players would get in Scotland`s team? All of them. Post Edited (Sat 20 Jun 22:48) Reply |
| 2. Author: widtink Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:09 Naw they widnae ....cos they`re no Scottish 🤣 Although , even that rule has been stretched these days. Have any of the Moroccan team got Scottish ancestry? I think we should go down the route that rugby union has went , couple of years of residency and you can play for the national team. Just a thought 🤔 Admin  Reply |
| 3. Author: Dave_1885 Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:13 Our squad has players that have won Champions Leagues, Premier Leagues, Serie As, Europa Leagues, Scottish trebles in it. Should be more than enough experience to guide the full squad through games like these, to a level that gets good results. Reply |
| 4. Author: onandupthepars Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:14 Definitely need to work on that angle widtink. I think it was said before the match that only seven players in their squad were born in Morocco. According to the ever-reliable AI: `In their 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, only seven players on the Moroccan national team were actually born in Morocco. The other 19 players hail from the global Moroccan diaspora and were born in countries like Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Canada.` Reply |
| 5. Author: onandupthepars Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:22 You`re making that sound a wee bit better than it is, Dave 1885. Would it be Champions league, singular - i.e. Robertson? Premier League winners - one? Robbo again? Serie A - one - McSauce. If most of our players were of that level of experience you`d have a case, but as it is... Post Edited (Sat 20 Jun 23:49) Reply |
| 6. Author: NMCmassive Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:25 I think you’re being harsh on some but I agree, there’s a lot of players there that aren’t as good as the media make out. I think we have a pretty average team for international football but we have a few who can really influence a game. I don’t get your point “villa” comment though? Didn’t they finish 4th in the league and win the Europa league? COYP Reply |
| 7. Author: KirklistonPar Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:46 Maybe the best players available don’t equal the best team. England tried playing all their best players for years and done well but just couldn’t replicate 66. Will be interesting to see if they can finally win a major tournament with a different tactic and management philosophy. Thomas Tuchel said when he selected the English squad that he picked a team rather than the best players. Reply |
| 8. Author: P Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:58 This is the most standard post Scotland match guff ever, so much so I pumped it into AI for the same assessment; “Their players against Scotland: Bono – plays in Saudi Arabia for Al Hilal. Hakimi – PSG, obviously a top player. (OP note - also a bit rapey) Aguerd – spent last season on loan away from West Ham. Saiss – 35 years old and also plays in Saudi Arabia. Mazraoui – useful player for Manchester United, but hardly one of the world’s elite defenders. Amrabat – after a difficult spell at Manchester United, now playing in Turkey. Ounahi – couldn’t establish himself at Marseille and has spent time out on loan. El Khannouss – relegated from the Premier League with Leicester. Ziyech – left Europe for the Qatar Stars League. En-Nesyri – playing in Turkey after Sevilla’s decline. Abde Ezzalzouli – rotational player at Real Betis. Subs: El Kaabi – plays in Greece. Richardson – Fiorentina squad player. Ben Seghir – talented youngster but not yet a regular star. Rahimi – plays in the UAE. Aznou – teenager still trying to establish himself. Others of note: Brahim Diaz – often used as a squad option rather than a guaranteed starter for Real Madrid. Azzedine Ounahi – has bounced around clubs since the World Cup. A lot of good players but, Morocco suddenly doesn’t look like a team packed with Ballon d’Or contenders either. The reality is that international football isn’t about who has the most players at Real Madrid, Liverpool or PSG. It’s about how good the players are, how they fit together, and how they perform for their country. Morocco reached a World Cup semi-final because they were an outstanding international team. Scotland drew with them because Scotland were an outstanding international team on the day. You can make any squad look ordinary if you only mention injuries, loans, bench appearances, relegations and the leagues they play in.” Reply |
| 9. Author: Jeffery Date: Sat 20th Jun 2026. 23:59 Considerably more French born players at the world cup than any other country - 98. Next closest in line is Netherlands at 67. Incredibly only 7 of the Moroccan squad were born in Morocco, only 1 of these started last night. We need to start migrating out more! Reply |
| 10. Author: parsfan Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 00:06 widtink, Sat 20 Jun 23:09 Great. I can see it now, 2034 and Saudi Arabia retain the trophy at home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The universe is ruled by chance and indifference  Reply |
| 11. Author: BlackLight Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 00:28 There`s going to be a bunch of kids in Boston that will be able to play for Scotland in 18-20 years time. Reply |
| 12. Author: onandupthepars Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 00:41 Yes, P - there must be something special about the Moroccan set-up, because as you say - their players don`t play for top notch clubs either. They might look an ordinary bunch of players on paper but they`re not ordinary on the pitch. Whatever it is, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation has got the right environment for their national team to thrive in. How do they do it? AI says they`ve had `Massive State and Federation Investment` There`s more to it than players and coach after all. Post Edited (Sun 21 Jun 00:42) Reply |
| 13. Author: NMCmassive Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 00:47 Isn’t it worth considering there’s around 38million Moroccans and they seem to be going through a bit of a golden generation? COYP Reply |
| 14. Author: doctordandruff Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 00:48 I`d say the biggest gap between the teams was in the dugout. Morocco have 1 standout player and 1 very good player. The rest are `good players'. We approached the game like we were playing France. Post Edited (Sun 21 Jun 00:48) Reply |
| 15. Author: DBA Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 01:10 doctordandruff, Sun 21 Jun 00:48 Nonsense. Morocco are ranked higher than Brazil for a reason. Look at where their players are playing compared to ours and come back to me! Reply |
| 16. Author: Dave_1885 Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 09:20 Theres always a good conspiracy theory to add to the bargain though……CAF notoriously corrupt - awards Morocco the Cup of Nations despite losing the final. Ref denies us a potential red card and at least 1 penalty. Who is a co host of the next world cup and Africas current “darlings”? You never know…… Reply |
| 17. Author: Buster_Brown Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 11:08 NMCmassive, Sat 20 Jun 23:25 “Super” John McGinn would be at the top of that pile for me. He has flashes from time to time, but generally he is never at the level that some of the media hold him in (when playing for Scotland) IMHO. Loving You, Is In My DNA 🇾🇪 Reply |
| 18. Author: onandupthepars Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 13:15 Just to clarify, NMC - I wasn`t being harsh - all the quotes I gave in my OP about our players are from the article that I hot-linked. All the other information, e.g. Tierney struggled to make his mark at Arsenal - if that`s one you think was harsh - came from looking up other websites. And I included it to show that while I rate Tierney very highly - he`d be a nailed on starter for me - he didn`t quite make it at that top club level with Arsenal, i.e. a level above playing for Celtic. So that, and everything else I posted were just the information that I could gather without making it an intensive study. Anyhow, if some of what I posted seems harsh - then it`s the sources I looked at that are harsh, I just collected their comments up to make what seems to me a fair representation of the club levels our players are at. BTW, it seemed unecessary to even look for info about McGinn, as even I know he`s had an outstanding season for a club that has done great things, and I assumed nearly every dotnetter knows that much, hence - `Villa`. Post Edited (Sun 21 Jun 13:16) Reply |
| 19. Author: NMCmassive Date: Sun 21st Jun 2026. 16:00 I dunno, I thought it was harsh. There wasn’t really any positives in your comments even though some have had really good seasons at the highest level they could be playing at. Don’t think it matters too much though, it’s not like we’ve got any players who should be playing in front of who we’ve got playing. I get folk can argue about a couple of positions or squad places but overall, we’ve got who we’ve got. COYP Reply |
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