Can Oli McBurnie Shoot Scotland Into The Euros?

Date: 22nd August 2018

Oli McBurnie impressed earlier in the year as he represented Scotland’s senior side for the first time against Costa Rica in March.

Since then the forward has returned to parent side Swansea City, after being out on loan last term at Barnsley, and he’s scored three times in four games for the Swans in the English Championship. That represents 60% of Swansea’s goal tally so far in the league.

Last night the forward was in terrific form as he helped his side prevent a rampant Leeds United from claiming yet another victory.

McBurnie claimed a brace in the 2-2 draw.

His first came after a nice touch took him inside the opposition’s penalty area before he poked his shot beyond the Leeds’ goalkeeper. His second was a sublime header that nestled into the opposite corner of the net after a great leap from the Scottish striker.

His early season club form will have certainly impressed Alex McLeish and the Scottish boss now seems to have two forwards that are capable of leading the line.

In the last qualifying campaign, Scotland relied heavily on Celtic hitman Leigh Griffiths.

The twenty-eight year old scored four goals during the World Cup qualifiers, including two fantastic free-kicks against England at Hampden.

Scotland gaffer McLeish has already expressed his concerns that Griffiths might not get enough game time at Parkhead:

“It would be difficult for Leigh to keep his levels up if he’s not playing much and keeping his match fitness,”

“That’s a concern for us but the challenge is for Leigh to bang in the goals. It would be very difficult to pick players when they are not playing. They lose match fitness – that’s the obvious answer.”

Thankfully Leigh has since played and scored for The Hoops. Hopefully he’ll get enough game time during the season to merit his selection. 

That being said, it’s still great that we now have some serious competition for the number nine jersey.

So if Griffiths isn’t fully match fit then we can play McBurnie or we could use the Swansea City man as an impact sub when Leigh has ran his socks off in games, as he usually does in a Scotland shirt.

As his header suggests against Leeds Utd, Oli is very effective in the air and that’s a big plus for us as he offers something different to Griffiths in that regard. You can imagine that the twenty-two year old frontman will enjoy having Andrew Robertson on the lefthand side providing him with some great crosses.

McBurnie offers himself up with good runs and that either has him moving into space or it creates space for others to run into. He also has the unique ability of being able to create his own chances.

The forward can also link-up play and press from the front.

So all in all, it’s great to have another exciting striker that’s in-form and can support Leigh Griffiths during this up and coming qualifying campaign.

Here’s hoping Oli McBurnie can help fire us for our first major finals since 1998!

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