Aberdeen and Rangers oldies aid Levein’s Scotland

Help The Aged not a concern for Craig

The road to Poland and Ukraine for the European Championships in 2012 is getting ready to start and Craig Levein has selected his squad for the Lithuania and Lichtenstein double header. The first weekend in September sees Scotland start their campaign and points on the board are necessary if the nation wants to be heading to their major tournie since France 98.

The major headline for the squad revolves around the re-inclusion of David Weir and Paul Hartley. Both players have grabbed the headlines at the start of the season and on a game by game basis, their inclusion is perfectly acceptable.

Hartley, at the time of writing up the article, has just notched his fourth goal of the season and if Scotland are awarded a penalty in their two matches, he appears to be the man to take the spot kick. A hat-trick from 12 yards against Hamilton Accies gave Hartley a Dons debut to remember and the Co-operative Insurance League Cup tie against Alloa saw the bearded wonder open the scoring.

Davie Weir continues to stroll through games but against Hibs at the weekend, he still showed he has the fire and anger to get involved when things get nasty and rough. Forget about the age, at this moment in time, it’s hard to think of a better Scottish centre half at the moment than Weir.

So for they reasons, the inclusion of Weir and Hartley gets the nod of approval from us….and you can ignore our ageist heading…if you’re good enough, you’re young enough!

Mind you, on current form, the non-inclusion of Shaun Maloney is a concern. The Celtic attacker has played a strong part in the attacking play shown by Neil Lennon’s team but clearly he has not impressed Craig Levein.

This leaves the standing of Celtic v Rangers as hoops 1 versus the eight of the Teddy Bears.

The way football works, you just know that some fans will be casting this up in some form or another but given the make-up of both squads, it would be hard to see any other split of the squad.

One of the other surprises in the squad comes with the inclusion of Blackpool’s goalkeeper Matt Gilks. The Seasiders stopper picked the ball out of the net six times at the Emirates on Saturday but that shouldn’t be any reason to keep him out of the squad.

The full squad is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Marshall (Cardiff), McGregor (Rangers), Gilks (Blackpool)

Defenders: Hutton (Tottenham), Berra (Wolves), Broadfoot (Rangers), McManus (Middlesbrough), Weir (Rangers) McCulloch (Rangers), Wallace (Hearts), Webster (Rangers), Whittaker (Rangers), McNaughton (Cardiff)

Midfielders: Adam (Blackpool), Brown (Celtic), Dorrans (West Brom), Fletcher (Man Utd), Morrison (West Brom), Robson (Middlesbrough), Hartley (Aberdeen)

Strikers: Boyd (Middlesbrough),Fletcher (Wolves), Iwelumo (Burnley), McFadden (Birmingham), Miller (Rangers) Naismith (Rangers)

What are your thoughts on the squad?

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