Ange Postecoglou: James Forrest and Greg Taylor unlikely to join Scotland squad

Celtic duo James Forrest and Greg Taylor are “unlikely” to join up with the Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, according to their club boss Ange Postecoglou.

Both players missed the Hoops’ 1-0 cinch Premiership defeat by Old Firm rivals Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

Postecoglou was asked after the match if Forrest would be available for his country and said: “I would say unlikely.”

Then, quizzed about Taylor, who has a shoulder problem, the Australian replied: “Again, I would say unlikely, but I will leave that to the medical teams. Greg wasn’t ready today so I think unlikely.

“He (Forrest) was close. We had him in the squad. He trained (on Saturday) and he just didn’t feel 100 per cent.

“It is a long season and we didn’t want to unnecessarily throw him in there.

“I was hopeful. As of (Sunday) morning he was still in the squad and we had to pull him out.”

Scotland face Denmark (Sep 1) and Austria (Sep 7) with a home game against Moldova (Sep 4) in between.

John McGinn has confirmed he is out of the game against Denmark after testing positive for coronavirus.

The self-isolating Aston Villa midfielder missed his team’s Premier League draw against Brentford on Saturday and later revealed he returned a positive Covid test last Monday.

“All the Scotland boys are close so it’s been difficult keeping this quiet and not telling them I won’t be playing,” McGinn told the Sunday Mail. “That’s been strange but I’ll be the same as everyone else on Wednesday – I’ll be a Scotland fan.

“I’m not naive enough to think I’ll just come back and be absolutely flying but I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure I’m ready for the Moldova game (on Saturday) if and when I get a negative test next week.”

The 26-year-old later added on Twitter that he had “no symptoms” and was “feeling fine”.

Southampton’s Stuart Armstrong had already withdrawn due to of calf injury.

Motherwell right-back Stephen O’Donnell could be a doubt after missing his side’s 1-0 win over Dundee on Saturday through illness, the third match in a row he has sat out.

There was better news elsewhere for Scotland boss Steve Clarke as two strikers returned from illness to score for their teams.

Lyndon Dykes came off the bench to net his third goal of the season in QPR’s 2-0 victory over Coventry while Kevin Nisbet struck in Hibernian’s 2-0 win against Livingston.