It’s not the end of world although it might feel like it now
McLeish plea for fan patience as he faces flak
ALEX McLEISH doesn’t expect an easy ride.
As he tries to take Scotland on a journey out of the doldrums and back into a world of respectability at the very least on the international stage, it was never going to be a smooth trip.
Bumps would litter the road yet Israel wasn’t just a bump.
It was a shuddering thud and the wheels flew off. A fifth defeat in seven games of a second stint at the helm was bad enough.
But the circumstances and subplots of the defeat in Haifa have brought justified criticism clattering on to McLeish’s skull.
The performance was abysmal. Facing a side ranked 94th in the world Scotland were at best unimpressive in stages and at worst shambolic in others.
McLeish and the players faced the music at full-time in the Sammy Ofer Stadium as they were booed from the park by the travelling support. Once that initial anger had subsided the post-mortems began.
In fairness they had begun before kick-off when in-form James Forrest, fresh from his four goals against St Johnstone for Celtic four days previously, was left out as the manager went for the same team who beat Albania last month.
Once it got going the personnel didn’t perform. And the system could only be described as flawed when the Israelis cut through the visitors with such ease that it needed keeper Allan McGregor to have a world-class display to prevent a hiding.
Individual blunders. Lack of cohesion as a unit. No proactive movement from the coaching staff to turn the tide as it was going wrong.
From start to finish it was disjointed and a calamity. As he reflected on the humbling in Haifa McLeish didn’t dodge the big issues.
He’s been around long enough to know intense spotlight follows such poor performances. He knows it went wrong. He accepts his plans and decisions didn’t work out and he faced the issues head on.
On his choice to leave out red-hot Forrest, McLeish said: “It was a tough decision. It’s not going to be like that every time. Forrest could have played. I just spoke to James and felt Johnny Russell deserved to go again.
“James came on and was lively but Johnny was lively as well. It’s hard to separate them. We went with the same team that did so well against Albania. I know in terms of the selection people will think we should have done something different. I get that.”
On the tactical plan that left Scotland chasing shadows in the engine room and exposed down the sides during the 90 minutes, McLeish said: “I have persevered with it so far.
“We’ve had a few hard fixtures in terms of the teams in South America. Taking on Belgium, you lose those games and people think ‘That’s not working.’ Belgium was a tough one but it was close games with the others. In the Albania game we found a good dynamic.
“We were at Hampden, the other team didn’t travel so well though people accuse us of that now and we just have to try to find the habit of winning games when we travel.”
It was too much to bear for those Scots who headed to Haifa to back the side and their displeasure was audible at full-time.
McLeish said: “I support the fans. I know what it’s like, I’ve played with Scotland before. When we don’t win the fans don’t like it.
“I don’t know what the reason for it was, if it was just the defeat. But I thought it was a brave performance in the second half, players trying to
get forward and get in the box to get that equalising goal.
“I didn’t think the effort wasn’t there and I am not here to criticise any of the players. I will look at the game again and assess it. But it didn’t work on the night and now we have to regroup.”
So where are Scotland now? After eight months and seven games of McLeish’s second reign it’s a serious consideration that we have made no progress since Gordon Strachan left. Some would say we’ve gone backwards.
McLeish added: “I do like some of the things we are doing. With some of the other things we lose the sucker goals and I don’t like that. We are trying to get rid of that and get those gilt-edged shutouts without parking the bus in every game.”
Game eight won’t be any easier. Portugal head to Hampden tomorrow for a friendly and McLeish said: “You have got to go and say ‘You’re in our territory.’ Let’s make sure we can put on a performance where we can beat Portugal.
“I’ve been in the crowd as a kid and seen some great games. I’ve also seen some games where we lost and I know the reactions when Scotland don’t win. The punters love their country and we need them.
“Its not all the end of the world. It might feel like that now. I don’t feel too good, I will hopefully wake up with a new perspective.”