Beware England’s HOTSPURS
McLeish has a stark message for Scotland’s much maligned defenders who are up against Alli and Kane...
FOR Scotland fans, a stark reminder that defending is now a lost art form in this country came last November at Wembley. In a vital World Cup qualifier, three separate unmarked England players — Daniel Sturridge, Adam Lallana and Gary Cahill — all scored with headers in a 3-0 victory.
Yet, chillingly for Scotland, England’s biggest win in the Auld Enemy fixture in 41 years was achieved without the ‘monster’ in their midst. And his almost-as-deadly sidekick.
Ahead of the return in Glasgow on June 10, Tottenham striker Harry Kane has publicly targeted a Hampden hat-trick after missing his country’s last six games through injury.
His 29 goals for Spurs last season made him the most potent striker in the English Premier League. There is no doubt the bruising Kane is most certainly able to strike fear into the hearts of a fragile Scottish backline.
And that’s before taking into account the threat posed by Kane’s club mate, the precocious Dele Alli, who was recently voted PFA Young Player of the Year for the second time.
The midfielder’s 18 goals place him sixth on the final list of English Premier League scorers last season and he, too, missed the last World Cup qualifier against Scotland.
‘Harry Kane is an absolute monster of a player — he is fantastic,’ said 77-times-capped Scots defender Alex McLeish.
‘He actually reminds me of the former Spurs and England striker Martin Chivers, from the days of the old black-and-white television pictures. He is a classic big, strong, English centre-forward. He fits that bill. He’s skilful, a powerful runner. He has just about got the lot. And we’ve got to stop him at Hampden!
‘But there are others, too, who we will need to stop. I’ve seen a lot of the English Premier League this season and Dele Alli’s been its most creative player.’
That Wembley loss six months ago saw Grant Hanley make his 27th appearance for his country. By contrast, Alan Hansen, who won three European Cups with Liverpool in the 1970s and 1980s, represented Scotland just 26 times.
But in Hansen’s era, Scotland had a fleet of Rolls-Royce defenders to call upon, including McLeish and his Aberdeen team-mate Willie Miller, plus Richard Gough, David Narey and Paul Hegarty.
By contrast, Gordon Strachan is not spoiled for choice and will likely choose in central defence the versatile Charlie Mulgrew — recently relegated to League One with Blackburn — to partner Norwich City’s Russell Martin.
The hapless Hanley was omitted from the squad altogether after making just five league starts since a £5.5million switch from Blackburn to Newcastle last summer.
‘Central defence has been a talking point over the past couple of years,’ nodded McLeish, a former Rangers, Scotland and Birmingham City manager.
‘In my day we had an amazing array of centre-backs. We had Hansen, Miller, Hegarty, Narey, Gough, Kenny Burns, and Gordon McQueen was just finishing when I was starting out.
‘But we’ve not been able to train up or produce the authoritative centre-halves that we have had in the past. There’s been the emergence of smaller players. I don’t know if that’s due to the success that Barcelona have enjoyed with smaller players but they still have a world-class centre-half in Gerard Pique.
‘As a nation, Scotland are definitely needing to produce a couple of mobile giants. Maybe we need to get tall mothers and tall fathers together and make it like robotic programming for new Scottish centre halves.’
Scotland currently sit fourth in World Cup qualifying Group F but just two behind secondplaced Slovakia and one off Slovenia.
With a place at Russia 2018 at stake, McLeish believes this is the most vital Auld Enemy match in the fixture’s 145-year history.
He is hoping for a repeat of 1985 when current boss Strachan and he were part of the last Scotland side to beat England on home soil.
McLeish even had a hand in Richard Gough’s headed winner, the only goal of the game, scored past Peter Shilton at a wet Hampden Park.
‘I put Jim Bett clear on the left and it was from Jim’s cross that Richard Gough scored,’ the 58-year-old recalled.
‘We lap it up when we beat England. It’s a special game. It always feels like a cup final. But this one coming up is even more important than the old Home Internationals, as it was back then. Qualification for a major tournament is at stake, so this is the most important Scotland v England game ever.
‘We are 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 ever needed one of those special days, it’s on June 10.
‘If Gordon Strachan can win this one, we will all be in his debt.’