McGinn says target is to hit the big time with Scotland
We need to go back to our clubs and get our confidence up.”
It was a bruising week but McGinn was keen to source positives amidst the perennial negativity that seems to engulf the national team.
“It was slightly better,” he said. “The other night was extremely disappointing and it was about trying to restore some pride. For long spells I thought we were able to do that but we lost some silly goals, especially the first one which was a real blow just before half-time.Overall it was better but we know how much work there still is to do.
“On the park it felt a lot more solid. We were restricting Portugal but, more importantly, we were causing them problems up top. I don’t know what the manager wants to do next but, whatever we do, we are going to work as hard as we can to give this country what it is craving and that is to get back to the big time.
“It is not going to come overnight but we need to stick together and keep going.”
It is difficult to escape the pressure McLeish is under. The Scotland manager has acknowledged feeling the heat this week and there is also a feeling Scotland might have benefited from playing against more modest opposition in their friendly outings.
“I am not sure,” said McGinn. “We have had a lot of difficult games against top opposition since the manager has come in. We are fully supportive of the set-up and we are enjoying it. We are obviously not enjoying nights like the other night but we are pulling in the one direction. Hopefully when we come back from Albania we have an opportunity here to take us into a play-off.
“The likes of Portugal is the level that you want to get to. You look at these players – how agile they are, how powerful they are. We have to take those lessons on now and use the Nations League to get us back to where we want to be.
“The manager was frustrated because he knows we played well overall but the scoreline didn’t reflect that.
“There are only prizes for putting the ball in the net and keeping it out at the other end which we just didn’t do. He was pleased with the performance but a bit disappointed that we keep losing goals.”