Why were Stuart Armstrong and Gary Mackay-Steven overlooked in Scotland squad selection?

Any analysis of Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad to play Gibraltar should really begin with a but.

“But it doesn’t matter who he picked because we would beat them regardless.”

I genuinely believe we could play a 1-0-9 formation of debutants and still win at Hampden a week today.

That is not something you often get to say in international football.

In this case, though, it holds true. The only real question should be: “By how many goals?”

That’s not to say the manager’s squad selections should pass without comment.

It was somewhat strange to see neither Stuart Armstrong nor Gary Mackay-Steven called up to the group.

These are two young players who have been outstanding since completing January transfers to Celtic from Dundee United.

Not just in the domestic games, either. Both men shone in the Europa League ties against Inter Milan.

Why, then, were they passed up?

Overlooked for the likes of their club-mate, James Forrest, who scored in the League Cup Final but has been dogged by injury, and Bournemouth’s Matt Ritchie.

Ritchie might very well turn out to be a good player for Scotland. We don’t know.

But it is perplexing why his chance has come at this precise moment.

To be fair, we do have Wednesday’s game against Northern Ireland to come first. It is a friendly and these are usually opportunities to try out something a bit different.

Having picked up a real good one from the English Championship in the shape of Ikechi Anya, Strachan knows it can be done.

The best news, I would argue, is the return of Jordan Rhodes.

He is a remarkable young player, who many fans have longed to see given another opportunity.

It is three years now since he hit goals for Scotland against Australia and Luxembourg.

In that time, he has lost none of his natural scoring ability.

We have heard before how Gordon Strachan isn’t sure he does enough when leading the line on his own.

How he doesn’t fit into the system that Scotland want to play. Not in the way that Steven Fletcher can or Kenny Miller used to.

I am sure we won’t go down that route against Gibraltar, and that we will play two up.

But and it is probably as good to end as well as start with one it is very cheering to see that one of our brightest talents hasn’t been forgotten about.