Given that Scotland are now in the position of being a team that's gonna need a squad for an international tournament (!!!) I thought we could have a look and see what's what.

Obviously these are the most uncertain times in football, but let's have a little fun, shall we?

Let's operate under the assumption that the XI that started last night are considered the starters, and the system employed - something resembling a 3412/3421/343 - is what said squad will be built around.

What I'll do here is go through each role individually and look at depth.

Given that we don't have access to a crystal ball, we don't know who's gonna be fit, who's gonna be firing, who might be self-isolating and who might come to the fore, but I still think it's worth pondering.

Here we, here we, here we fuckin go:

GOALKEEPER

I think it's safe to say David Marshall is among the more nailed-on starters for Scotland.

Jon McLaughlin and Craig Gordon are his backups this time round, with Scotland U21 regular Robby McCrorie featuring in recent squads.

McLaughlin is a perfectly fine goalkeeper, but he's currently number 2 at Rangers.

Even though Gordon will be 38-and-a-half and off the back of a season in the Championship with Hearts as opposed to McCrorie's 23 and season in the top flight with Livingston, Gordon has 54 caps.

There could be a case to be made for taking a young third choice to a tournament for the #experience, but if the worst were to happen and Marshall lost form/fitness, a goalkeeper of Gordon's stature is good enough to be a direct backup that could step nervelessly into the fold.

As for picking three from four, I think a lot could depend on how well McCrorie does for Livi weighed up against how many games McLaughlin plays for Rangers, but either way this shouldn't be a position that causes too much concern -- at least while Marshall and Gordon still play.

I don't think I need to go into too much detail about what the role entails here because our goalkeepers tend not to be asked to do anything too complicated in possession in terms of being Edersonesque.

An outside bet could be Scott Bain if he keeps Vasilis Barkas out at Celtic.

RIGHT CENTRE BACK

Alright, there's a lot of crossover here with what goes on at LCB, so I'll quickly cover what the roles require in this team based upon what we've seen so far.

Out of possession, for all intents and purposes it's the same as any ol' normal centre back: defend.

In possession, however, the players in these positions are expected to play smart balls into the channels and to carry the ball into midfield.

Scotland don't have a lot of "ball-playing centre backs" of the requisite quality, hence why midfielder-by-trade McTominay starts here.

As for who his rotation options could be - and again, we're doing all this on a role-by-role basis, so in this instance we're looking at players to play RCB as opposed to centre backs in general - in a pinch the man that starts to his left could move over one, but beyond him?

I'm sure you've noticed, but Scotland seem to produce a lot of left-footed players, hence why (emergencies aside) the likes of Liam Cooper, Andy Considine or Scott McKenna can't be considered for this role, for passing angle reasons as much as the general awkwardness of it all.

One player that's been in recent squads that could be considered an understudy is Ryan Porteous.

He's uncapped at senior level, and while he's still young and raw, he's made a good start to the season with Hibernian, as well as being captain of the Scotland U21s.

For his club he's played well as part of a back three, albeit in the middle and flanked by Pauls McGinn and Hanlon.

Comfortable on the ball, quick, strong, naturally right-sided: he has many things going in his favour.

A cap at senior level between now and the summer? Probably.

There are other right-sided central defenders that I may touch upon later, but assuming that strong ball progression and not being slow in movement or thought are dealbreaking attributes when they're available, there are two emergency options in the current squad:

Liam Palmer and Ryan Jack may be a right back and a central midfielder, but the former has experience of playing all across the back line for Sheffield Wednesday, including in central defence, while the latter has played as a defender before.

Like I said: emergency options.

CENTRE CENTRE BACK (lol)

The Big Basturt. The Immovable Object. The Defender's Defender.

The Declan Gallagher Role.

In possession there is nowhere near as much onus put on his ballplaying ability as the ones that flank him in a three. Nah, this guy's job is to stookie the baw.

Of course, it's good if the guy isn't an absolute donkey on the ball, which Gallagher isn't, but you get the idea.

Yes, this could change depending on opposition striker(s), but strength, size, aerial ability, leadership, organisational skills and bravery are all key attributes.

Scott McKenna might be the most obviously similar player in the squad, with Andy Considine another option.

Fitness permitting, Grant Hanley - probably unfairly maligned (including by me) given his association with past calamities in poorly organised teams - also fits the bill.

LEFT CENTRE BACK

So it turns out Kieran Tierney can play here after all.

Whilst very different from McTominay, I think it's fair to say that - broadly speaking - their roles as the outside centre backs in this system are largely similar, so scroll back up for a crash course.

The reason I didn't mention Liam Cooper as a candidate for Gallagher's position isn't because he's simply more suited to this than that - like Tierney, I'm not shy of overlapping - but just that I don't think his true strengths lie in being a dominant, blood and thunder defender.

What Cooper *is* very good at is moving the ball - passing or carrying - and taking acceptable risks when it comes to being positive in possession.

Aye, I know: the captain of a Marcelo Bielsa team in the English Premier League can't get a guaranteed game.

He's just no Tierney.

Andy Considine won people over while playing in this position, but not certainly not this role. As excellent as he was in his two caps in October, what needs remembering is that Tierney, Cooper and McKenna all missed those games, so Considine is surely emergency cover here.

For me, McKenna is second choice CCB and third choice LCB.

He's definitely closer to Gallagher in profile than Tierney, while being a bit quicker and better on the ball than Considine, but still not as good an all-round player as Cooper, especially when his team have possession.

*INTERMISSION*

I was going to do the whole thing before hitting "Tweet all" but apparently I can only do X amount in my drafts before, so... here you go.

I'll definitely return to this, if not here then elsewhere. We'll see.

In the meantime, feel free to give me your thoughts!

LEFT WING BACK

I mean, do I really need to go in-depth as to what this role entails, beyond "our main width"?

It's Andy Robertson, then it's KT, and Greg Taylor's there in case there's a shortage meaning Tierney can't switch, or indeed if Tierney isn't available at all.

Next.

RIGHT WING BACK

Alright, fine, let's talk about wing backs a second, not least because I feel I have more to say about this side than the other.

It's a credit to Stephen O'Donnell that the number 2 is now his shirt to lose, because he no longer looks to be badly out his depth.

A lot's been said about this system being employed as a means of getting Tierney and Robertson comfortably in the same team, and while that's obviously been a plus, others have benefited too, not least the man above.

Before this year's amazing run, O'Donnell had played as a RWB before for Scotland under Alex McLeish in the home game v Albania, which came during Eck's brief two-game attempt at solving the Robbo/KT conundrum, before injuries to the latter put that question on ice for a while.

O'Donnell seemed to spend most of that game as a kind of wideish target man, constantly barrelling down the right and cutting infield, playing as more of a forward than anything.

Albania being absolutely shite that night meant he never had to worry about what went on behind him.

O'Donnell still bombs forward and still uses his body to good effect, but an increase in discipline on his part means he now does so at both ends of the pitch, and greater protection from his closest midfielder means he no longer feels like a true liability against better teams.

That being said (and without being too harsh), to me right wing back still feels like the weakest area of the team, and I hope to see it improved over the next few years.

Liam Palmer is good, and I like him, and until recently I'd have always started him, but beyond those two...

James Forrest has been tried there with next to no success, and while Callum Paterson made his name as a right back at Hearts and in his first few caps for Scotland, he's barely played there at club level for a few years now.

If anything, even his physique seems to have changed; he's transformed himself from a strong, quick fullback into a huge battering ram of a forward.

The most outside bet of this thread though is probably Aaron Hickey.

I might be veering a little off topic here, but hear me out.

Is Hickey more one for the future than one for right now? 100%. He's barely 18, he's not long moved to a new country, and he hasn't even made an appearance for the U21s yet, but it's safe to say he would have fulfilled that landmark if he didn't need to pull out the latest squad.

That being said, there's no telling how his next few months might unfold. It feels like the chances of him growing more and more into Serie A football are the same as him being gradually pulled out the limelight in order to continue his development behind the scenes.

All that comes before we even talk about the fact he's been playing on the left side of Bologna's defence as opposed to the right, but as many Hearts fans will tell you, he's extremely two-footed and is adept at playing on either side.

I mean, look:

https://twitter.com/jdnalton/status/13113313400385699986

My point is that beyond O'Donnell and Palmer, the options aren't exactly deep. One injury or massive drop-off in form to either one of them combined with a stellar few months from Hickey could see the kid asked to make the step up for the seniors' fixtures in March.

Let's see.

*INTERMISSION*

That'll do for tonight. At the very least I'll cover the two central midfield roles tomorrow, but hopefully I'll have the time to do more than that.

Cheers for all the RTs and replies! As I've said in response to some folk, I'll do honourable mentions at the end.

Whoops, the tweet I tried to share didn't seem to work. Here it is: https://twitter.com/JDNalton/status/1311331340038569986?s=19

CENTRAL MIDFIELD

This is the only entry where I'm gonna cover two at once.

Rightly or wrongly I feel there's an overlap in responsibilities and it's not as simple as "one sits, one doesn't" -- I think there's a set of instructions and any variance is down to individual profile.

While creativity in a classic sense is nice, the majority of what's asked of them seems to lie in what happens off the ball, both when the team does and doesn't have possession.

In possession, these players need to provide a passing option between the lines for the centre backs.

If the outside centre backs wander forward, either with the ball at their feet or to make off-the-ball runs of their own (moving into space off the back of a one-two) the midfielders need to ensure they can plug any gaps left behind that could be exploited if possession is lost.

They need to perform a similar duty for the wing backs, who can end up very high and wide, while simultaneously ensuring that they're able to find those wing backs and the other attackers with passes in the first place.

And then there's the pressing and the intercepting and the-

Any role on a football pitch will come with multiple responsibilities, but I think it's fair to say that the role of a central midfielder in this system requires a lot.

By time I move on, I'm gonna realise I've forgotten something really obvious among the myriad tasks at hand.

Anyway, Callum McGregor and Ryan Jack have been Clarke's go-to, with good reason.

For a start, McGregor can make a case for being Scotland's best midfielder: an excellent 8 or 10 and more than serviceable 6, with excellent technique, stamina, workrate and intelligence.

Ryan Jack has become a much more expansive player over his last few seasons at Rangers, broadening his horizons in a creative sense in a dominant team while also retaining the workmanlike tendencies he's always had.

He's also right-footed, which adds balance to McGregor's left.

Yeah, we're talking footedness again.

Two players that seem to be the main rotation options are Kenny McLean and John Fleck, both of whom are left-footed.

I touched upon this with the centre backs, but this can skew passing angles and general comfort, which is not irrelevant.

The simple option would seem to be moving Scott McTominay forward into his "natural role" - a case could be made that he's a better midfielder than Jack, and I won't get into that here - but good luck replicating what he brings to the team from the back with any kind of ease.

While John McGinn is yet another left-footed option (and maybe not ideal, but he's a player I'll talk more about later), let's have a look at some righties for a change, three of whom are uncapped, but far more likely than Aaron Hickey to make the squad:

Ross McCrorie and Lewis Ferguson have had strong seasons so far for Aberdeen.

"Vertical energy merchant" Ferguson - goals from the penalty spot aside - creates much of Aberdeen's central thrust, relentlessly skipping about the place and embodying what it means to be box-to-box.

McCrorie is probably the more reigned-in of two, and therefore more suited to what the role entails, which isn't meant as a criticism of Ferguson: if anything, that's exactly why I'm not wild about McGinn playing that role, even on the left.

What's encouraging about McCrorie is that he's contributed more to Aberdeen's attack than I'd have expected while still being able to provide a shielding presence as and when the game requires it.

He's also played at right centre back this season, so he adds further depth there.

Far from a liability in possession no matter where he lines up - he even earned experience of playing right back when on loan at Portsmouth - McCrorie could and probably should be in the Ryan Porteous bracket of "cap him as soon as possible" to get him acclimatised to the system.

And then there's Billy Gilmour.

There was a valid debate back in February and March - just after his breakthrough at Chelsea, just before the world went to shit - as to whether he should be called up to the senior squad or remain with the U21s.

Of course, the world *did* go to shit, so we never found out for sure.

Come football's resumption in June, Gilmour got a fairly serious injury pretty soon after and is only now back to something approaching fitness, so we've yet to see how exciting his breakout could be.

A downside for him personally is that Chelsea seem to have ditched the three-man midfield that let him look like a fucking baller as a playmaking pivot, but if he gets minutes between now and March as part of a two, and he manages to excel at the things we need?

It's a big if.

Finally, a word on Stuart Armstrong, who I will talk more about later:

Basically he's not ideal for this role and would be much better further forward.

While he played "centre mid" at Celtic (like the song says), that was as more of a "free eight".

This ain't that, I'm afraid.

*INTERMISSION*

Aye, that was a long one, but I hope you can see why.

My aim is to finish this off before tomorrow night's game, including options for roles that don't quite fit the current system.

Up next will be the 10/attacking midfielder/whatever you wanna call it.

Cheers!

ATTACKING MIDFIELD

Sometimes a "number 10" seems to stand there, the eye of the attacking storm, linking everything together, painting pretty pictures.

Sometimes they barely stop running, unable to contain themselves, "weaponising his arse" in the process.

The last three roles in this team are perhaps the most reliant on the individual characteristics of the players therein.

That's not to say that it's improv night at the jazz club - that this loose front three can do as they please - as it would be reductive to suggest as much.

Maybe it's the John McGinn effect at play, skewing my understanding of what's at the heart of Scotland's attacking intent, because he is undoubtedly one of the strangest, most unorthodox players I have ever seen on any pitch at any level in any part of the world.

I'll stop myself now before this turns into a loveletter -- my point is that while there are many individual beneficiaries of this current setup, perhaps the greatest benefit to the team as a whole (besides defensive solidity) is a way to "safely" accommodate this kind of player.

All of which seems strange to say given that the three players that start in these three roles - I'll focus on the 10 role soon - are habitually hardworking rather than passengers that need ferrying. The way they fight for their openings and defend from the front is peerless.

But they still need to take risks, and seeing as risk doesn't always lead to reward, they need to make up for that and give those that provide their platform a helping hand.

In other words, they can't be lazy, but they still need to create, much like everyone else in the team.

This number 10 can't consider themselves as separate from the 8s behind them, otherwise the chances of the latter being outnumbered and bypassed rise exponentially.

Thankfully, when it comes to the blue-arsed fly brand of attacking midfielder, Scotland have strength in depth.

Stuart Armstrong is as good a bet as any when it comes to being similar enough to McGinn.

A late-arriving threat from deep at Celtic and a diligent presser off the ball, those qualities have become yet more refined at Southampton, whose manager considers him a certain starter.

While I've looked at some #numbers to clarify what my eyes have been telling me about these players all this time, I haven't used any in this thread, nor will I start now, but sufficed to say that there's another guy who can play as a 10 whose defensive workrate is extraordinary.

Believe it or not, Ryan Gauld still exists.

After numerous setbacks - none of which were of his own making - he has finally made his mark on the Portuguese top flight, a season after being crowned as the second tier's player of the year.

Just shy of 25, he's his team's main man, and a far more rounded player than the one that left Tannadice all those years ago -- what he's gained in strength and stamina has not come at the cost of his vision or technique, and his intelligence still aids every facet of his game.

Whether What's Going On will hamper the potential of an overseas player joining up with the squad come March and beyond is anyone's guess, but it's hard to believe that his efforts are going unnoticed behind the scenes.

Add McGregor and the man up next as options too?

All good.

*INTERMISSION*

Hopefully this is the last pause before I wrap this up a little later.

Hat-tip to @OwenJamesBrown for the line about McGinn at the start. It's always stuck with me for being as apt as anyone can be.

The aim's still to finish ahead of 7.45 tonight. Here's hoping!

https://twitter.com/OwenJamesBrown/status/1195706281572683776?s=19

FORWARD

Let's get one thing straight:

Let's park the tribalism and ignore the England player in the tweet below, because that's besides the point. I just want to credit Nathan's wording, even if it has become a bit of a meme -- players aren't positions.

https://twitter.com/NathanAClark/status/850736887107117056?s=19

I've tried to make that clear throughout this entire thing, hence why I keep referring to a player's "role", giving a basic description of said role, etc and so on.

There are two reasons I bring it up now:

One is that I wasn't sure what write at the top.

Is Ryan Christie's role in this team a striker? A pressing forward? A free winger? A 9 and a half?

He's all of them, none of them, whatever. It doesn't matter.

The second reason is that some folk still think he (or Tierney, or McTominay, or...) is played "out of position".

Either that or they'll classify Christie as a midfielder and the guy right next to him as a striker.

It. doesn't. matter.

One up top, two up top, blah blah blah. The fact remains that this guy is good as fuck at what he does, and he does so in a way that suits him and his team.

When I write "FORWARD" or whatever it's because I gotta punctuate my massive ramblings somehow, innit?

But you knew all this already, and if you didn't, you do now, so let's all pat ourselves on the back for being such clever cookies, shall we?

Anyway.

The two players that have played this role in their own ways are Ryans Christie and Fraser.

After Christie had to self-isolate during October's fixtures, Fraser came in and performed superbly.

Popping up on either wing, dropping off, going beyond -- he was everywhere.

And that's the point: whoever plays here has to be the boy the space talks to, and they have to listen.

They also have to work extremely hard out of possession in tandem with the rest of the team, especially with those two nominally beside and behind them in the "front three".

Christie and Fraser are now the two main candidates for this role, and on paper someone like Oliver Burke would be ideal as a third option: someone who could bring size as well as speed.

The problem, however, is that Burke has yet to prove that his hard drive still isn't empty.

Leigh Griffiths is another option, something a little more traditional when it comes to what punters expect of a "forward", while still being creative enough to provide more than just a goal threat.

Whoever plays here, they'll be knackered by the end of it.

TARGET MAN

Imagine being asked to do something similar to the previous role here, but you exchange a little bit of the on-the-deck creativity with being the target of almost every long pass forward, and you also have to be a consistent goal threat if you want to please the fans.

Lyndon Dykes is a hero.

I won't go into how he compares with Scotland's so-called target men of yore, but what helps Dykes stand out - besides his absolutely insane ability to win the ball in the air - is that Scotland now send players to support the poor guy.

What a concept!

This role's purpose of being an advanced facilitator is arguably more important than being a goal threat, because other players in the team have shown that they know how to finish.

Regardless, the fact that Dykes has scored and then some is why the Tartan Army have taken to him.

Oliver McBurnie is a good player. He looks awkward, his socks are low, he's a big lanky fucker -- he's just an aesthetically strange player.

Even when he plays well, he looks like he could fall over at any moment.

He's also currently out of form, and it's easy to see that.

He'll never be as good as Dykes in the air, and he might never make the ball stick to him as well either, but he does have real intelligence in his movement, and his workrate should never be called into question.

He just needs a goal. If he gets that, we could see the real deal.

Other options for this role are Lawrence Shankland - probably more of an outright goalscorer than the rest, but his all-round play is probably underappreciated - and Callum Paterson, who is - in the nicest and best way possible - an absolute fridge of a boy.

And that's that, as far as the current system is concerned!

I do intend to add a little more in the coming days: a few wildcard options that don't necessarily fit our recent tactics, as well as some acknowledgements to lovely folk.

Thank you so much for reading.