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"The top 50 players in Scottish football this season"


skygod

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This will doubtless get the hackles raised and debate raging!

It's going to be in five instalments so I'll update this post each day.

It's compiled by Craig Fowler of The Terrace podcast.

 

50. Youssouf Mulumbu (Kilmarnock)

The Congolose midfielder is only in at No.50 for one specific reason: he didn’t play enough football. Full disclosure, it’s a nightmare trying to put together these lists. You end up with about 75 players you want to include and then agonise over which ones to chop. In order to make the process (slightly) easier I tend not to include players who’ve often featured in half a season. So if you’re hoping to find Curtis Main, Florian Kamberi or Jamie Maclaren you’ll be sorely disappointed. They won’t feature.

Mulumbu makes the list because, a) he signed in November, and b) he made such an impact that it was impossible not to include him, even though that would have made things simpler. Kilmarnock were already improved under Stevie Clarke, but Mulumbu took them to another level. Without him there would have been no victory over Celtic, no comeback against Rangers before Christmas or win at Ibrox in the new year. He gave his team-mates and the club a lift and he deserves to be recognised as a result.

49. Alan Lithgow (Livingston)
48. Alex Schalk (Ross County)
47. Scott Sinclair (Celtic)
46. Murray Davidson (St Johnstone)
45. Lewis Stevenson (Hibs)

44. Jamie MacDonald (Kilmarnock)

The best goalkeeper in the first half of the campaign. MacDonald didn’t make any glaring errors and managed to pull off about four outstanding saves. Once he (almost literally) threw one in the net against Hibs before the turn of the year, his form dropped off a bit with a couple of more (less obvious) gaffs creeping in. However, he continued to make some fine stops and was, in this writer’s opinion, the third best goalkeeper in the top flight this past season.

43. Gary Harkins (Morton)
42. Tom Rogic (Celtic)
41. Cammy Smith (St Mirren)

40. Alan Power (Kilmarnock)

Kilmarnock looked to have signed a dud when Power took his place in the starting XI for the Betfred Cup opener against rivals Ayr United and then proceeded to be completely outplayed by a bunch of guys two divisions below his supposed standard. When an equally startling performance followed in the next match against Clyde – where he was hooked at half-time with the hosts trailing the League Two side 2-1 – alarm bells were well and truly ringing. Under Lee McCulloch he played five abject games before being binned by the previous boss following the 5-0 hammering suffered at the hands of a youthful Celtic side.

Describing his turnaround under Steve Clarke as “incredible” would be selling it short. There was a period between the new boss arriving and the winter-break stoppage where Power was man of the match almost every single week. Even into the new year, he continued to impress with his battling qualities and humility on the ball. And, for all the praise his team-mates received for Killie’s surge up the league, it was Power who took home the Killie fans’ player of the year award.

39. Craig Halkett (Livingston)
38. Scott Allan (Dundee/Hibs)
37. John Souttar (Hearts)
36. Stephen Dobbie (Queen of the South)
35. Richard Tait (Motherwell)
34. Ryan Christie (Aberdeen)
33. Cedric Kipre (Motherwell)
32. Lewis Morgan (St Mirren)

31. Kirk Broadfoot (Kilmarnock)

The former Rangers and Scotland defender would eventually show that his reputation as a joke figure was wholly unmerited, though that wasn’t before he, like most of his team-mates, struggled in the opening couple of months. Once more, a Kilmarnock player was grateful for the Midas touch of Steve Clarke as Broadfoot would go on to enjoy one of the better campaigns of his career at age 33.

30. Allan Campbell (Motherwell)
29. Paul McGowan (Dundee)
28. Graeme Shinnie (Aberdeen)

27 Jordan Jones (Kilmarnock)

Who doesn’t love watching a winger who just wants to run at defenders? Jones led the league in dribbles this past campaign, clocking up a staggering 399 in the top flight, over 100 more than the player in second place. Not only does he possess real pace, his agility and elusiveness make him a nightmare for defenders, and it was little surprise to see him thriving in a No 10 role earlier this campaign when Killie were still struggling to get started and needed some thrust from central areas. Though he would suffer a drop-off in performance when reports linking him with a move to Rangers knocked his concentration, he soon picked it up again once the January window shut. Killie fans will be desperate to see him stick around next summer – when his contract expires – unless a suitor is willing to pay around £1 million to snatch him away.

26. Kenny McLean (Aberdeen)

25. Stephen O’Donnell (Kilmarnock)

One theory for why Kilmarnock were such a team transformed under Steve Clarke was that a number of the new signings made by previous boss Lee McCulloch weren’t fully fit after arriving last summer. O’Donnell seemed to embody that. At first, he looked like a completely different player to the one who’d left Partick Thistle just two years previously. There were very few roving runs down the flank as he appeared cumbersome trying to move both with and without the ball. Then, gradually, his form picked up. Finding an extra gear, he was able to use his stamina, speed and size to continually motor past opponents. His Scotland call-up was a surprise to some, but not to those who had been watching him since November.

24. David Templeton (Hamilton)
23. Kyle Lafferty (Hearts)
22. Olivier Ntcham (Celtic)
21. Efe Ambrose (Hibs)
20. Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic)
19. Jason Naismith (Ross County)
18.  Paul Hanlon (Hibernian)
17. Trevor Carson (Motherwell)
16. Josh Windass (Rangers)
15. Glen Kamara (Dundee)
14. Alfredo Morelos (Rangers)
13. James Tavernier (Rangers)
12. Martin Boyle (Hibs)
11. Scott McKenna (Aberdeen)
10. Callum McGregor (Celtic)
9. Jon McLaughlin (Hearts)
8. Daniel Candeias (Rangers)
7. Kieran Tierney (Celtic)
6. John McGinn (Hibernian)
5. Christophe Berra (Hearts)
4. Kris Boyd (Kilmarnock)

The remarkable improvement in a few of Kilmarnock’s squad under Steve Clarke can be explained away by rising fitness levels or acclimatising to the Scottish top flight. The example which truly demonstrates the Kilmarnock manager’s remarkable abilities in individual player progression is his 34-year-old striker. Prior to Clarke’s arrival, Boyd’s full title could easily have been “The Shambling Corpse of Kris Boyd” in a football context. Boyd himself admitted he felt “done” at top-flight level. Not only has he since gone on to score 23 goals in all competitions, and become top scorer in the Premiership, he has reverted to the bullying presence he was in attack during his last spell with the club.

3. James Forrest (Celtic)
2. Dylan McGeouch (Hibernian)
1. Scott Brown (Celtic)
 

(The Scotsman)

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-top-50-players-in-scottish-football-this-season-50-41-1-4742564
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-top-50-players-in-scottish-football-this-season-40-31-1-4743370
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-top-50-players-in-scottish-football-this-season-30-21-1-4743961
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-top-50-players-in-scottish-football-this-season-20-11-1-4744691
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/competitions/premiership/the-top-10-in-our-50-best-players-in-scottish-football-this-season-1-4745350

 

Seven Killie players then, and just four from Aberdeen!

No Craig Gordon or Leigh Griffiths.

For those who were critical of Rogic's placing at 42, the explanation given is even more contradictory - he almost didn't make the list but could be the most talented player!

"Another one of those Celtic players who very nearly didn’t make the list. Unsurprisingly given his track record, Rogic struggled with injury at times this past season. He also didn’t enjoy the brightest of starts before fitness problems caught up with him. However, there’s little doubt he’s one of the best players in the country - in terms of pure talent, he might be No.1 - and he’s shown it in the big matches, particularly against Rangers."

 

Edited by skygod
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Maybe he did. I find him obnoxious and a guy that clearly sees himself as a legend, but there is no accounting for taste. To have him at 43 between Rogic and Jamie Mac is mental though.

On his game loved him as a player but all did turn sour when he left and then always returned to haunt us with a girfuy attitude when it seemed to be him not the club that was the problem

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Agreed. Rogic is the best player in scottish football imo. Don't understand the love in with Scott Brown. 

I've not seen either of them this season (apart from when Rogic has played for Australia) but Brown's 2,500 passes in a season (400 more than the next highest), with a 93% accuracy, is pretty impressive.

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I've not seen either of them this season (apart from when Rogic has played for Australia) but Brown's 2,500 passes in a season (400 more than the next highest), with a 93% accuracy, is pretty impressive.

If you want to use passing statistics as a gauge then Brown might come out on top. There's a lot more to football than passing though. Brown is boring as sin. Rogic has everything you want in a decent player. Skill, speed, flair, accuracy. Hes a joy to watch.

Edited by Calummoore86
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25. Stephen O’Donnell (Kilmarnock)

One theory for why Kilmarnock were such a team transformed under Steve Clarke was that a number of the new signings made by previous boss Lee McCulloch weren’t fully fit after arriving last summer.

 

So McCulloch was just really unlucky that all the players that he signed were unfit? And then remarkably the week after he left became fit again?

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So McCulloch was just really unlucky that all the players that he signed were unfit? And then remarkably the week after he left became fit again? 

It does say, in O'Donnell's case, that "gradually, his form picked up"

Fitness seemed to be an issue with Power for one and, after having played just three times the previous season, Broadfoot was going to take time to get up to match fitness.

If fitness was a problem generally, I don't think it was case of McCulloch being unlucky, but negligent.

 

Edited by skygod
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It does say, in O'Donnell's case, that "gradually, his form picked up"

Fitness seemed to be an issue with Power for one and, after having played just three times the previous season, Broadfoot was going to take time to get up to match fitness.

If fitness was a problem generally, I don't think it was case of McCulloch being unlucky, but negligent.

 

Aye, the relatively early start to the season with a shorter preseason up here seems to have caught some of the guys coming up from England cold for the first few weeks.

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