Mick McArdle's Scotland Shuffle
Scotland's first post-PML squad has been announced and there is significant change throughout. With Austria and Netherlands on the horizon in UWNL League A, we've taken a look at the new look SWNT.
Michael McArdle’s first, and perhaps only, Scotland squad was always going to be a crucial one with a squad that had faced back-to-back playoff failures in need of a refresh. With ten changes from Pedro Martinez Losa’s final squad, it marks a turning of the page for the SWNT.
A Shock Inclusion
This time last year Freya Gregory was playing left back for England’s under-23s against Spain after recently being recalled from her loan at Reading by parent club Aston Villa. Present day she has once again been recalled from a loan early, this time from Southampton, to make a permanent move away from Villa to join Newcastle United in the Championship.
At club level she has predominantly been viewed as a winger, and both her appearances so far for Newcastle have continued that trend. It is to be seen which position the interim Scotland boss sees her future in, but with depth needed in both areas she could prove to be a key player in years to come either way. Especially as a natural left footer.
Quick and inventive, Gregory likes to take on opposing teams with the ball at her feet. Driving down the wing and using her physical ability to hold off challenges when quick feet don’t do the trick. Certainly an exciting prospect for the SWNT future.
Rejuvenation
One of the big detractors of PML’s time in charge was the feeling of a stale squad that was only ever getting older as in-form young players were often left out. His final squad for the games against Finland had an average age of 27.4, that has been reduced to 25 with the exclusion of the likes of Nicola Docherty, Emma Mukandi, Lisa Evans, and Jenna Fife sure to catch the eye.
The push for youth is particularly noticeable if you isolate the goalkeepers and defence where the previous squad’s average age was 29.3 (not including Lisa Evans) and is now 26.6. The likes of Erin Clachers, Amy Muir, and Leah Eddie returning to the senior set up after seeing opportunities limited despite impressing for the under-23s and at club level.
It does mean the squad is lighter than usual on leadership figures, which could be important given McArdle’s inexperience of leading a senior team and six players potentially feeling the nerves of debuts. However, Weir (106 caps), Cuthbert (74 caps), and Emslie (70 caps) are all very experienced players that have spent a long time at the top, top, level. If that isn’t enough there is also have the likes of Kirsty Smith, Lee Gibson, and Sophie Howard to lean on.
On the new addition front, there are first time call ups for a number of the SWPL’s most exciting young players. Emma Lawton shone at right back for Partick Thistle last season earning a big move to Celtic where she has gone from strength to strength; Eilidh Shore was the lynchpin of Aberdeen’s midfield and made a similar move up the league table to Hearts for whom she has looked right at home; and one of the SWPL’s top scorers, Eilidh Adams, has been hitting double digits since she was barely 18. They are joined by Mia McAulay (last season’s young player of the year) and Erin Clachers as SWPL stars that could see their Scotland debut in this break.
The UWNL Campaign
The League A campaign draw was not kind to us, which you can read about here, with this squad coming for an away trip to Austria and return to Hampden to face the Netherlands. Both very strong opposition, as expected for the top tier of the Nations League. Germany are the other team in the group. Back to back games against them come later this year, with the home leg already announced for Tannadice.
Largely the League A campaign means little, it doesn’t directly impact qualification for the 2027 World Cup and we realistically won’t win it. But, if we were to retain our place at this level it would be a huge achievement for the squad and show progression ahead of the qualification stage. It would also make our qualification route slightly easier and add some extra coefficient points as the cherry on top.
Largely the aim will be to improve on the performance last time out that saw us finish dead last with just two points to our name, and some abject performances we’d rather forget. That in itself lends us the opportunity to try new things, to give proper chances to players on the fringe of the squad to impress without the weight of tournament qualification on their shoulders.
Squad in full: Eartha Cummings (FC Rosengard), Lee Gibson (Glasgow City), Erin Clachers (Hibernian).
Jenna Clark (Liverpool), Leah Eddie (Rangers), Sophie Howard (Leicester City), Emma Lawton (Celtic), Rachel McLauchlan (Brighton & Hove Albion), Amy Muir (Glasgow City), Kirsty Smith (West Ham United).
Chelsea Cornet (Rangers), Erin Cuthbert (Chelsea), Sam Kerr (Liverpool), Kirsty Maclean (Rangers), Eilidh Shore (Hearts), Caroline Weir (Real Madrid), Emma Watson (Everton).
Freya Gregory (Newcastle United), Claire Emslie (Angel City), Kirsty Hanson (Aston Villa), Mia McAulay (Rangers), Martha Thomas (Tottenham Hotspur), Eilidh Adams (Hibernian), Lauren Davidson (SK Brann).
Tickets for the games can be found here.