OURGLASSIS CENTRE-HALF
ALEX McLEISH was one of the best in a long dynasty of first-class Scottish central defenders so he can’t understand why it’s become such a problem position for Gordon Strachan.
Scotland’s third most-capped player was the bedrock of the national team alongside his Aberdeen defensive partner Willie Miller in the 1980s.
But he knows they were just part of a rich legacy of commanding centre-backs stretching back from Billy McNeill and John Greig in the 1960s to Richard Gough and Colin Hendry into the late 90s.
So it baffles him to see the current side struggle to find the right central-defensive mix with Grant Hanley, Christophe Berra and Russell Martin among those who have copped flak over previous failed campaigns.
Now these defenders will face one of their toughest tests yet against free-scoring England striker Harry Kane at Hampden next week in a match where anything but victory would almost certainly kill their World Cup qualifying hopes.
And McLeish can’t work out why Scotland seem so vulnerable in a position that was traditionally their greatest strength. He said: “It’s something that’s been a talking point over the past couple of years.
“We had Alan Hansen, Kenny Burns, Willie Miller, myself, Paul Hegarty, David Narey and Richard Gough. Gordon McQueen was just finishing when I started. That’s an amazing array of centre-backs. But recently we have not been able to train up or have the authoritative centre-halves.
“I don’t know why it is. Maybe we need to get the tall mother and the tall father together, make it like robotic programming for a new Scottish centre-half !
“There has been the emergence of smaller players and maybe a lot of kids start out wanting to play in different positions now. I don’t know if that’s due to the Barcelona success and how they’ve evolved but they still had a world-class centre-half in Gerard Pique. So we’re needing to produce a couple of mobile giants.”
McLeish will cheer on the Scots hoping Strachan can find defensive solidity in his side, with Aberdeen stopper Mark Reynolds the latest call-up to be given his chance to stake a claim for that problem position. Of course Scotland, trailing the Group F leaders by six points, will be underdogs but that’s a tag that never fazed McLeish when he was part of two victories over the Auld Enemy.
In 1981 John Robertson’s penalty sealed a famous win at Wembley and Gough’s header at Hampden in 1985 saw the Scots lift the Rous Cup in front of their jubilant home support.
McLeish said: “We’re underdogs but at Hampden anything can happen with the Tartan Army behind us. We have seen some amazing victories over the years and if we needed one of those special days it’s this one.
“I remember in 1981 the pitch was energy-sapping and it’s because of the aura of the arena. I had played at Hampden enough times to not be overawed by playing there but Wembley was different.
“We were determined not to be overawed. Willie and I were playing against Peter Withe and Trevor Francis and coped pretty well.
“But at the end of the game I remember my feet were all blistered, and it wasn’t new boots, it was just the pitch. You felt as though you’d run a marathon. The English media were really dismissive before the game, saying they’d run riot against the two Aberdeen centre-backs.
“Danny McGrain was beside us and he told us not to play offside. He said he didn’t really know how to do it, he just wanted to defend right. I couldn’t believe Danny had never played offside but the tactics worked really well for us.
“Then in the Rous Cup in 1985 I put Jim Bett clear and it was from Jim’s cross that Gough scored. We lap it up when we beat England, it’s