LEAN ON LEIGH
Gallacher backing Griffiths for goals
AS a nation holds out for a hero, the lack of attacking options available to Scotland was laid bare this week by boss Gordon Strachan.
asked if not featuring regularly for his club side would affect a striker’s chances of facing Slovenia in the must-win World Cup qualifier at Hampden, the 60-year-old conceded: ‘It can’t because then I wouldn’t have anybody to start.’
Between them, Strachan’s five options to lead the line in Sunday’s Group F tie have amassed just ten club goals in 2017.
Jordan Rhodes was the only starter this past weekend, playing 90 minutes as Sheffield Wednesday lost 2-0 at home to Reading in the English Championship.
But hell would likely freeze over before Strachan hands the 27-year-old the role of national saviour. Rhodes simply does not fit into Strachan’s preferred system, has not played for his country for two years, and the last of his three Scotland goals came in November 2012.
Steven Fletcher, Strachan’s first-choice striker during the doomed Euro 2016 campaign, now finds himself behind Rhodes in the pecking order at Hillsborough. The 29-year-old played only the last 12 minutes for Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.
Elsewhere in English football’s second tier, Steven Naismith came on after 30 minutes of Norwich City’s 2-0 win over Barnsley, while Chris Martin was an unused substitute in Fulham’s 3-1 home defeat by Wolves.
Strachan’s final forward, Leigh Griffiths, who led the line in the 3-0 qualifying defeat to England at Wembley in November, did not make it off the bench in Sunday’s 2-1 win for Celtic at Dundee.
Such a lack of on-form, in-favour forwards is a situation far removed from Strachan’s own playing days with Scotland.
The former midfielder was part of a squad at the 1986 World Cup that included Graeme Sharp, Charlie Nicholas, Paul Sturrock, Frank Mcavennie and Steve archibald.
But the array of Scottish striking talent during that era was underlined by those players not on the plane to Mexico: Kenny Dalglish, Mo Johnston, alan McInally, Eric Black, John Robertson, Brian McClair and Scottish football’s top scorer that domestic season, ally McCoist.
Fast-forward 31 years and the likelihood is that Scotland’s World Cup hopes on Sunday will rest with a striker who has yet to score a single goal for his country.
But Kevin Gallacher, the last Scotland forward to fire the nation to a major finals, believes Griffiths would be the right choice to try and keep the nation on the road to Russia 2018.
‘When it comes to picking strikers, you look to see who is playing and scoring regularly — but the problem for Scotland is that’s not happening at the moment,’ Gallacher told
Sportsmail. ‘If you take a step back and look at why Griffiths is not playing for Celtic, it’s because there is a £30million man in front of him in Moussa Dembele.
‘Sometimes, as a striker, it is just your time and you have to wonder if the time is now for Leigh Griffiths when we face Canada and then Slovenia on Sunday.
‘Leigh can create goals out of nothing. He has that terrific bit of individualism and is great from distance, so maybe he has the edge in that respect.
‘Gordon likes someone to lead the line and Steven Fletcher is talented. But he normally needs people to feed him the ball to score goals. Chris Martin is also worthy of his place in the squad, but he needs players around him, too.
‘Jordan Rhodes will always score you a goal. Unfortunately, he seems to need three or four really good chances to score and that doesn’t happen often at international level. I just feel the Slovenia match is one for unleashing Griffiths.’
Gallacher opened the scoring against Latvia at Celtic Park in October 1997 and then set up Gordon Durie as a place at France ’98 was secured with a 2-0 win.
The then-Blackburn Rovers striker grabbed six goals along the way, with Craig Brown’s side losing just one qualifier — away to Sweden.
By contrast, Strachan’s Scots sit fifth of six teams in Group F with four points from four games.
It seems unlikely right now, but Gallacher would love to see new heroes emerge over the remainder of the qualifying campaign.
‘I didn’t think back in 1998 that we would not be back at a finals for at least 20 years. It is unbelievable,’ remarked the 50-year-old.
‘I was lucky enough to go to three major finals with Scotland, but now a whole generation does not know what that feels like.’