Ally McCoist is intrigued to see who will start up front for Scotland at Euro 2024 – and says a combination of their three striking options would make one of the most fearsome centre forwards around.
Lawrence Shankland goes into the Euros having scored 30 goals for Hearts this season, making him the Scottish Premiership’s top scorer and the most prolific of the national team’s three options in recent months.
QPR target man Lyndon Dykes, though, has started regularly for Scotland in recent years, and remains firmly in contention to get the nod, given his ability to hold the ball up and bring his team-mates into the game.
Then there’s pacy Southampton forward Che Adams, who started two of the national team’s three matches at Euro 2020.
Speaking courtesy of talkSPORT Bet, McCoist said in the new Euro 2024 preview edition of FourFourTwo magazine: “They all bring something different. Shankland may be the best finisher; Dykes could potentially lead the line better than the other two; Adams might run in behind better.
“I don’t think Stevie will play more than one at a time, so we’ve got options. If we could combine the three of them, we would have some striker!”
In fact, combine the attributes of all three, and you’ve basically got Erling Haaland – ironic, given that Scotland qualified for the Euros ahead of Haaland’s Norway, winning 2-1 in Oslo.
Steve Clarke’s side have now qualified for each of the last two European Championships, having previously failed to reach any major tournament since the 1998 World Cup.
McCoist believes that Clarke deserves much credit for the excellent job he’s done as manager, while also saying that the players at the national team’s disposal are now more proven at the top level than perhaps some of their predecessors.
“I think we have a better level of player at the moment,” he said. “Guys like Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney are playing at the top level. They’ve been excellent for us.
“Steve Clarke has done a great job. He and John Carver have marshalled the players well. They look like a happy squad, who look forward to meeting up and being in each other’s company. That helps.”
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