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While Patterson may very well turn out to be a really good player, I find it amusing at the amount of people who have just bought into the narrative that he's top class. And this isn't aimed at you specifically, by the way. He's 19 years old, and made seven league appearances last season with five European appearances as well. Four of those league games saw him come on as a sub, including one game after 86 minutes, while he came on as a sub in two of the European games. He also played two Scottish cup games, with one of those against Cove Rangers. So that's three league starts, and three European starts, with two Scottish cup games. In total. Not to be funny, but I spoke to two guys who were sitting near (but two metres away, of course!) me and my mates in a beer garden during one of the Euro games and they were banging on about Patterson being a future star and that he should be starting for Scotland, with the added piece of information that seems to be popular, that neither of them were Rangers fans. They ended up admitting that they'd seen him play once or twice on telly. Their opinions have undoubtedly been crafted by the seemingly relentless drumming up of this lad by the written press and talking heads in the media. And we all know why that's the case. Could Patterson turn out to be the real deal? Of course he could, and if he does then he'll deserve to be looked at as an option for his country. But the truth is, he's proven nothing at club level yet, never mind done enough to warrant international football. O'Donnell isn't a world beater, but few of our players are. The clamour to see him dropped for this kid was as blatant as I've seen the Glasgow-based media act in recent times. I'm glad Clarke didn't bend. O'Donnell deserved to be on the field as much as any other player.

He might be the the future, and it's certainly worth including him in the squad to give him some exposure. However, the footballing world is full of promising players whose trajectory nosedives quickly. Sometimes for obvious reasons, sometimes not. Seven first team appearances is certainly no guarantee. A prefect example of that is our own Tony Watt. After he scored his famous goal against Barca he got a 4 year extension as the "next big thing" - but it never quite worked out, except for us.

I couldn't agree more with the defence of SOD throughout the Euros. He was there on merit. Played absolutely superb against the English and was generally fine against the other two teams barring a few awkward moments. You really can't blame him for looking nervy at times when you see the shite directed his way by his own fans and his own nation's media, when his only crime is being a better pick than a Rangers youth player. As someone else alluded to earlier in the thread, I get the feeling that there is a degree of impostor syndrome with him whenever he plays for Scotland. In lieu of any other obvious contenders from leftfield, Patterson will almost certainly be the Scotland right back for the next wee while. O'Donnell is 29 while Patterson is 19. I suspect the transition will take place over the next qualifying campaign, with Patterson getting a few token run-outs for Rangers in the lead-up to squad announcements. Which I am okay with if he turns out to be half as good as made out to be, as I generally try to keep my Scotland hat and my C&A specs for separate occasions and wouldn't want the national side to be detrimentally affected just to prevent an OF player getting a game. I don't see Clarke being the type to pander, but think in the interest of bringing in new talent and being seen to move the national team forward he'll make the call soon. The above is all said with the caveat of never having seen Patterson play, other than the 10 minute cameo against Croatia. He looked positive when he got the ball, but also lost it twice by running down a blind alley or diving in and leaving space behind. That's maybe about the same number of times O'Donnell lost possession across 260 minutes. Potential is there, but on that brief viewing not ready (in my opinion) for international competition football. I actually tried to find a highlights video of NP prior to the tournament starting to see what the hype was all about, but all I could find was a compilation of him playing youth football and that one goal against the Belgian side . The fact that the fan boys still couldn't cobble something together suggests how little senior football he has actually played. On Turnbull, quite surprised we didn't see him off the bench in any game. This is pure speculation on my part but I wonder if the occasion perhaps got to him and he didn't train as well as he could've? Similar to with us and when he first moved to Celtic, it took him a fair while to establish himself in the team. Both Robinson and Lennon made similar claims about how he needed time to adjust, etc, I wonder how much of that was true and how much was defending their stance to not play him. It'll be interesting to see how he features in future squads where the 'win or bust' thing isn't quite so strong.

At least the guy can score with both feet.

And yet neither look capable of scoring in the proverbial barrel of fannies. SOD's job is to defend and, for the most part, of the three games he did that pretty well. The criticism he is receiving is miles over the top. I do agree that Steve Clark could have made better choices on a few occasions during the three games, a back three in the first game when Tierney was injured or having that pudding McKenna come on v Croatia for example, backing SOD was not one of them (IMHO).

Casagolda still has a highlight reel that isn't utterly terrible

I canny wait to moan when folk who aren't as good a fan as me get in and I don't

Didnt know Graeme / Madwullie, but sorry for your loss and best wishes to his family and friends. I can empathise regards your feelings of loss. It gives you a real sense of your own mortality, and hardwires itself into your enotions only to come spilling out at the most unexpected moments. Im sure your own recent experiences have contributed to that. Sad to hear this is your last post as the forum needs its regular posters and "characters" to remain vibrant and worthwhile. I hope after some time out you may change your mind. If not, your last post was an eloquent one and one worthy of your contributions over the years.....

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere...

Step forward, Connor Shields.....

Nobody is saying it is perfect and I agree with you regards Goalkeeper and Centre Back needing upgraded. But no vital wins with 2/3rds of a good team? What about Wales? What do they have? TWO decent ageing players in Bale and Ramsay but their qualifying and tournament record is superb of late despite the rest of the team being way below that level. And those two players have hardly played all season for their clubs. And some of that national success under a caretaker Manager. Northern Ireland also had some praiseworthy success. We have four players currently starring at huge clubs in England in Tierney Robertson McGinn and McTominey, Players who could argueably have a case for featuring in an EPL select squad. Add to that Gilmour Turnbull Adams Patterson Nisbet as younger newcomers who are an upgrade on where we were 6 months ago. All of them will improve given the correct support. I would add Kerr of St Johnstone and maybe Doig at Hibs as options worth trying. And whether we like to admit it or not the Scottish players at Rangers and Celtic are of a decent standard. So we are far from starved of talent and quality. Tactics and formation are another matter and Clarke has to construct a formation that plays to the strengths of his squad and stop being focused on setting up a team not to lose, rather than setting up a team to win. He is not in charge of Kilmarnock any more. The Czech game is a prime example of that approach. That game cost us qualification, not the Croatia game. But some are using last night to once again rip into SOD, who was far from being our worst player. And those same folk never uttered a word after his outstanding performance against England. Seems to me they have an agenda and last night's result simply played into their hands. Sadly some of them are Motherwell fans. Not at international level clearly, but the same thing happened all the time with Dunne, and more recently with Lamie, Mugabi and McGinley. Deafening silence when they play well but jump on for every error. I get it that fans play favourites, but how about some credit where credit is due rather than using every slight error to try and prove a point. Having said all that, Scotland need to find a goalkeeper who can take over for the next 10 years.

An unfashionable Club such as Motherwell have two players and a former Academy player in the first Scottish squad to reach a final in decades. And yet all that some on here want to do is decry the performance of one of our players that played in every match, bemoan the level we are at as a Club and talk down the level of Scottish football in general. Sad. In fact, pathetic. The future of the national side is rosier than it has been for years, if Clarke is brave and determined enough to trust the youth coming through to support established players like Tierney, Robertson, McGinn and McTominey. And as a Club we were better represented than clubs with much better resources than us. Something to be proud of.

OK who would you have in at right back for Scotland then apart from SOD with over 20 caps behind him in experience? Clarke brought on the new Maldini if you believe the blue uglies for a 10 min run out, do you seriously think Patterson with only a handful of 1st team games would have coped starting against any of the other 3 teams in the group, I think not. SOD was in the squad on merit, starting all 3 games on merit and coped very well one or 2 dodgy moments but generally a decent 3 games, and we're it not for a great save from Pickford he could have had he winner v England, so why don't you cut him some slack.