As Scotland failed to win for the sixth game in a row, the absence of Celtic players in Steve Clarke’s starting lineup is stark.
Anthony Ralston missed his chance to impress last night as did Greg Taylor. Both Celtic fullbacks were unused subs in Scotland’s 1-0 defeat to Michael O’Neill‘s Northern Ireland.
It was a result that was unexpected as Scotland has had a great home record recently and it now leaves Steve Clarke with plenty to think about ahead of the next international break ahead of the Euros in Germany.
What this international break has done though, however, is show just how much Scotland misses Celtic captain, Callum McGregor.
The driving force in the heart of Steve Clarke and Celtic’s midfield, McGregor allows the likes of Scott McTominay and John McGinn to make attacking runs from midfield whilst keeping the Scottish backline protected.
Not according to pundit, Tam McManus. The former Hibs man was in no doubt about his opinion on last night’s result and claims that McGregor would not have stopped Scotland losing at Hampden last night.
Callum McGregor not missed by Scotland
McManus has been on a bit of a weird one recently. He bizarrely claimed yesterday that McGregor might find it difficult to win his place back in Clarke’s side after the Netherlands defeat.
A claim that was refuted by Peter Martin. But after Scotland’s defeat last night, the former Hibs man was on one again.
McManus said on X, “Ah I forgot Callum McGregor was Messi. He would have beaten 2 or 3 players and stuck one in top corner.
“He wouldn’t have made any difference. Our issue is we have no creativity in final 3rd vs teams that sit deep/low block/a top No9 who gets you a goal out of nothing. Nutshell.”
He’s not Messi, but you could bet that McGregor would have made it more difficult for the Irish midfield and helped bolster the Scottish attack options with his passing and vision.
McGregor has been at the heart of everything have been doing under Steve Clarke over the past few years.
Making back-to-back Euros is down to the huge part the Celtic legend played in the qualifying campaigns.
To say he would have not made a bit of difference to that result last night is just strange from McManus.