Gordon Strachan has announced his latest Scotland squad. The twenty-six man squad, who will face Qatar at Easter Road and travel to Ireland for an important qualifier in June, features recalls for Stoke City’s Charlie Adam and Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths.

In my opinion, both players deserve their call-ups.

Charlie Adam can be very hit or miss but at the moment he’s impressing in the English Premier League. Stoke boss Mark Hughes seems to know when to use him and when he’s more suited for the bench, that seems to have allowed the Scots midfielder to flourish in the last few months of this campaign. Obviously everyone was banging on about his wonder goal against Chelsea, where he scored past Thibaut Courtois from inside of his own half but in truth Adam has done extremely well scoring four goals in his last ten league outings.

Don’t get me wrong he’s still a bit of a show-pony, who tries too hard to produce the sublime but when on form he deserves to be in the Scotland squad. I’d play him in the Qatar friendly but bench him for the important Ireland qualifier, when we need more disciplined heads in the heart of midfield. Has a gifted left-foot that could be useful towards the end of a game if we need to add pressure from a set-piece or two.

At Celtic Park in 2015, no one has delivered quite as much in terms of goals as Leigh Griffiths. The striker has thirteen league goals and nineteen in all competitions. Impressively out of those nineteen strikes all but four have come in this calendar year. After finding it tough at the start of the season to figure into new Celtic boss Ronny Deila’s plans, Griffiths kept his head down and waited on his opportunity to shine. Then as John Guidetti’s goals dried up, in and around the turn of the year, Leigh stepped up and took his chance. In his last seven appearances he’s banged in eight goals, helping Celtic clinch the League Cup and the league title.

Question marks remain over Griffiths ability to lead the line on the international stage. He failed to score in the 252 minutes of European football he played during this term. Griffiths has also failed to net in his first four Scotland caps but alas I think it’s still too early to judge. He needs more minutes on the park and a run of games at that level. At the moment he’s in a rich vein of form, can any other forward in the latest Scotland squad say that? Nope.

For me, Leigh Griffriths should lead the line against the Qatari’s and if he impresses in that game, then he should keep his place for the Irish game at the Aviva Stadium on the thirteenth of June.

It’s nice to see a player delighted with his call-up too, with Leigh tweeting…

“Ain’t a better honour than pulling on a strip for your country! DELIGHTED to be called into the squad. Really looking forward to the games”

Two more inclusions gained my attention.

Firstly it’s nice to see yet another player from the Scottish Premiership receive an international call-up.

Dundee have impressed this season and their form has been aided by goalkeeper Scott Bain. The twenty-three year old has been given his first nod for the national team selection which is fantastic for his club, the Scottish Premier League and the player himself. With Allan McGregor struggling to regain his first team place at Hull in recent weeks, it makes sense for Strachan to have a look at another keeper. Although Partick Thistle’s Scott Fox might feel he should have received another call-up considering he’s kept five more clean sheets in one less appearance during the 2014-15 campaign.

Versatile man Charlie Mulgrew has also been named in the pool, despite having missed the last five or so months due to a hamstring complaint. But as he nears full fitness again, it shows that Strachan depends heavily on the Celtic man that he’s rushed back in to the fold. Mulgrew was named man of the match back in November when Scotland beat Ireland at Celtic Park. As I’ve said previously, the Scottish mindset needs to be disciplined for the away qualifier in Dublin and Charlie Mulgrew will definitely give you that.

All in all it’s yet another solid, decent looking Scotland squad that we’ve come to expect from this era under Gordon Strachan. As always some will feel that players have been wrongly overlooked, while I still question why we continually see Barry Bannan in these selections. But at the end of the day, if Strachan can get the best out of these players then no one will complain that loudly!

Posted on May 18th, 2015 by scott
Filed under: Article