After the hopes and expectations of Scottish fans across the country were once again left in tatters in typical fashion in Ljubljana earlier this month, perhaps it’s time Scotland were more experimental with player selection for the upcoming international matches.
Gordon
Strachan lost his job after failing to secure a World Cup play-off spot in
Slovenia
As we saw in the second half of the qualifying campaign, Scotland were much more successful when they included more Scottish Premiership, primarily Celtic, players in their first team and this strategy should be used as a blueprint for success in future qualifying campaigns.
With a friendly against the Netherlands next month along with the new UEFA League tournament next autumn, there is plenty of room to experiment with the squad to examine exactly who is at the required levels before the European Championship qualifiers which begin at the start of 2019. One player who deserves his chance more than most is Rangers midfielder, Graham Dorrans. His appearances for Norwich over the past couple of years have been sporadic at best but, with five goals and two assists already this season; Dorrans has shown what he can do when he gets a regular chance in the starting 11. Watching him command the Rangers midfield last week against St Johnstone impressed me and showed exactly what Scotland have been missing.
Graham Dorrans
got on the scoresheet in an impressive performance at McDiarmid Park last week
With Scott Brown’s international commitment still in the balance since the departure of Gordon Strachan, this is the perfect opportunity to re-introduce Dorrans back into the international frame and give him the chance to prove his ability against one of the biggest teams in international football next month.
If interim manager, Malky MacKay, really wants to impress against the Dutch next month, he must refrain from making the same mistakes as previous Scotland managers and pick players based on form instead of selecting his favourites.
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