Strach wants Tartan Army to lead way

KEITH JACKSON

ALL hell is very probably about to break loose on the slopes around him.

But Gordon Strachan and his players will tonight attempt to remain serene among the madness as another World Cup campaign goes all the way down to the nerve-shredding wire.

The Scotland boss has been in an upbeat, bullish mood throughout the last few days as the clock has gathered pace towards this latest date with destiny.

Not a single backward step has been taken, even despite the calloffs that have robbed him of two of his most important players.

Yesterday inside a deserted, rainswept Hampden he took a quiet minute to himself to soak in the stillness of it all, in full knowledge the next time he steps out into this place it will be a rippling bowl of Scots excitement, national dread and eye-popping anticipation.

This last training session was the calm before the inevitable storm that will engulf this famous old corner of Glasgow’s southside.

But asked if he’d encourage the Tartan Army to keep calm or plead for their patience Strachan’s face contorted into the kind of, “Are you for real?” look he reserves for questions exactly like this.

He said: “Patience? No. The fans have paid their money – they’ve come here to be excited.

“You can’t ask them to sit there and say, ‘Och, it’s not a problem, the boys have got it well in hand’. That isn’t football.

“The fans will be saying, ‘Woah, let’s go for it, get up for it’ and all the rest. We have to stay above that. There are times we’ll have to stay patient and the crowd will say ‘We want the ball to go forward!’ but k.jackson@dailyrecord.co.uk there’s no point in getting it forward because they have two big centrehalves who will head it back up the pitch and we’ll be in trouble again.

“The team will have to stay above that. But the fans? They can do what they want.”

He speaks like a man who has been here before of course. It’s just that’s it’s taken a while to get back.

On March 8, 1989, he was sat on the same Scotland bench as a sub on the night Maurice Johnston scored two against the French – a result that fired us towards Italia 90 amid scenes of pure bedlam.

Not that he remembers or even cares to talk about it. Reflecting on historic glory isn’t his style.

No, Strachan is locked into the here and the now as this campaign comes down to the crunch.

He said: “The fans and players together make Hampden a special place. It isn’t the easiest place to get an atmosphere going. At other places the atmosphere instantly hits you. You have to work harder here.

“But it’s amazing the small things that bring fans on your side. I’m not just talking about wonderful dribbling and shots. It’s jumping higher, winning a bouncing ball, chasing somebody, closing down.

“Leigh Griffiths got the biggest cheer when he chased the centreback down against England. The crowd thought it was brilliant. Those small things can change it.”

Strachan’s first objective will be to come up with a starting 11 that helps swell the crowd’s belief. Given the amount of debate about how best to compensate for the loss of Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong, this in itself will be no easy task.

The populist move would be to throw in Callum McGregor or John McGinn. Or better still both.

But while Strachan has been highly impressed his instincts may sway to tried and tested options such as James Morrison, James McArthur and Darren Fletcher.

Then there’s Barry Bannan, a player who regularly attracts the manager’s praise but seldom nails down a place in his team.

Strachan’s been drooling over the Sheffield Wednesday man’s form since the squad gathered on Monday and yesterday he was banging the drum again.

He said: “People are talking about John and Callum at the weekend, with four goals between them but some of the best displays I’ve seen in the last three weeks have come from Barry. That’s in different areas, positions, as a sitting midfielder, on the left, right. Mark McGhee feels the same.

“Everybody who watched him thinks, technically, he’s been wonderful with a great range of passing. We’ve all heard about the other two lads, rightly so, but he’s been the best.”

Good enough to have played his way into Strachan’s midfield? He said, “No, it means he’s been in my thoughts for three weeks. You have to take into account what position he plays at his club, does it suit this game?

“There’s a lot involved but it’s unfair to forget guys like Barry. You guys go overboard about the home players and forget what’s happening elsewhere because you see the home players – I see them all.”

But a bite-sized midfield trio of Bannan, McGinn and McGregor is highly unlikely. Unless it’s against Slovakia’s Under-14s.

A greater degree of physicality will likely be required and Strachan admitted height will also come into his thinking.

And he’ll need every one of this 11 to truly believe this moment is theirs for the taking – even if it means strapping them down to watch reruns of the 3-0 defeat in Trnava.

There were glaring signs on that night Scotland could cut through a vulnerable defence. That they didn’t was down to their attacking inadequacies and state of mind.

But this feels like a very different Scotland now and Strachan said: “We can make chances against anyone but you’re correct. As a coach you’re looking at the way we started and going, ‘This is fine, it looks we’ll get through this game no problem’.

“But then one hit and you go, ‘Could we have done better there defensively? Yes’. Attacking wise it was alright, then it’s 2-0 and becomes a real hard game.”

STRACHAN