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00:00Well, we're heading into an international break on the horizon, domestic football will

00:06take a short period off. We'll look ahead to the upcoming Scotland Nations League play-off

00:14against Greece. At the time of recording, Steve Clarke will name his Scotland press

00:21conference on Tuesday of this week. There's been a lot of chat around potential new faces

00:28in the squad. Martin, going forward, obviously there's concerns around injuries to certain

00:34players. We know that Lyndon Dykes will not be part of this squad. Aaron Hickey is on

00:40the comeback trail, still not fit enough. And Ben Doak has also undergone surgery on

00:45his thigh. So potential opportunities for some new faces. There's been a couple murmurings

00:53over the last few weeks that Clarke has an eye on George Hurst, who plays for Ipswich

00:58Town. There's also Chris Brady, who's playing in the MLS with Chicago Fire as a potential

01:06goalkeeping option going forward. Heading into this doubleheader, obviously two massive

01:12games for Scotland to remain in Nations League. The A section, would you be quite keen to

01:19see a sprinkling of new faces integrated into the squad?

01:25I absolutely would, but I don't think it's going to happen. Historically, with Steve

01:32Clarke, we'll maybe see a couple of guys in there based on form, but I really feel it's

01:42far more likely that we'll probably see one or two and we won't see a whole lot of them

01:47if anything at all from them in these next two matches. Some of the players, I think

01:54Luke McEwan absolutely deserves a Scotland call-up. I would be surprised if he isn't

01:58called up. I know that central midfield area is highly competitive, but I think he's at

02:04any time he comes on for Celtic, he's hugely impressive. He's having a great season and

02:10he deserves it. A real sort of natural successor for Callum McGregor in the Scotland set-up

02:16and potentially for Celtic in the future. Nicky Caddon before his injury, I think was

02:24probably in line for a Scotland call-up. I think he would have been Hibbs' best player

02:28of the season, as I said earlier. I would have thought with the form Hibbs are in and

02:33the way he was playing, he would have been in line for a call-up. Obviously, the injury

02:37at Celtic Park is probably putting an end to that, which is really disappointing for

02:41him. Kieran Bowie at Hibbs is a player I really like. I think he will be a Scotland

02:47international in the future. Whether we see him in this window, I don't know. I think

02:52the injury he's had this season, it's a late charge and it's not like he's banging in the

02:56goals, but he's definitely a big laddie and he's a handful and I like him and I'd like

03:00to see him playing for Scotland maybe in the World Cup qualifiers later this year. In terms

03:07of the new faces, those are the ones I'd be looking to before I'm looking at someone

03:12like George Hurst. I've no disrespect to the guy. Obviously, he's 26. He's spent his whole

03:23career in the English lower leagues and just because he's playing. Obviously, he's an England

03:31youth international. There's a quality player there, but I've never liked us being blinded

03:37by someone just because they're playing in the Premier League. I would rather see someone

03:45like Kieran Bowie called up over someone like George Hurst, but at the same time, one of

03:53my biggest problems with the way Steve Clarke's picked his squads is it is good that he's

03:59loyal and that breeds a real atmosphere in the squad that we've seen success for. I'm

04:03not questioning it, but it is a bit frustrating when guys who are not in the best form continue

04:11to be called up instead of maybe experimenting with someone else. Like you say, Dykes is

04:15out. I think Tommy Conway might be the man who finally gets a little bit more game time

04:20this time around. Laurence Shankland is one of the players I was alluding to, although

04:25even though he's not banging in the goals, I do think at the moment he's in quite good

04:30form for Hearts in terms of his overall game, but that doesn't scale up to international

04:36level for me. He's not going to be able to play the role he does for Hearts for Scotland

04:41on the international stage. It's just not realistic. What Scotland needs is someone

04:46at the top end to score the goals and Laurence Shankland isn't doing that at the moment.

04:50Then you've got Kevin Nisbett, who is hitting a little bit of form at the right time. Again,

04:57I just feel like it's coming a bit too soon and it's not enough for you to say he should

05:05definitely be in the Scotland squad. I don't think it is. I imagine I wouldn't be totally

05:12against seeing George Hurst in this Scotland squad. The other guy whose name I meant, the

05:20goalkeeper in the MLS, what was his name again? Chris Brady. Chris Brady, that's right, sorry.

05:26On that, just call him up. We need more depth in goals. It's just not even Craig Gordon

05:32as much as he's great and he's still an international quality keeper. I'm not disputing that. He

05:40shouldn't be there for the World Cup qualifiers. I'm not saying he should be retiring at the end

05:46of the season if he doesn't want to because he's still a great player. If he feels like he keeps

05:49going, I just mean in terms of a natural sort of age to think when a player would retire.

05:58There aren't any young goalies out there that we can really turn our attention to

06:02the way there are in the striker position with someone like Kieran Bowie, who even though he isn't

06:08necessarily right now doing enough for you to say he definitely deserves a Scotland call-up,

06:13I think there's a good enough player there that will be a Scotland international.

06:17We don't have that luxury. I don't see any young goalies that I'm thinking, oh,

06:23maybe they're not quite Scotland ready yet, but they might be a Scotland keeper in the future,

06:27so we should call them up. Just get any eligible goalkeeper we can, just get them in the squad

06:32because we need them. Two names I'll drop in, I think, that will be called up in the

06:37future. I think James Penrice at Hearts has been particularly impressive this season, but not,

06:42I think, you're looking further down the line for him. And Ryan Hardy, who's been tremendous

06:48for Plymouth this season, if he can kind of continue his goal-scoring spree, I'd imagine

06:54that he will eventually get rewarded with a future call-up. That's all we have time for

06:59on today's show. Thanks to Martin Simpson to join me on today's podcast and stay tuned for

07:06the next episode of Fitbit Talk.

Scotland vs Greece preview: New faces to freshen up Steve Clarke's squad | Fitbaw Talk

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