IT’S THE HEIGHT OF NONSENSE...

Lack of instinct, not inches, is the reason behind latest failure

AS diversionary tactics go, it was certainly original. A statement which at least punctuated a faux concern for the well-being of families forced to suffer the trauma of seeing their loved ones being holed up in a five-star hotel for a night as they represent their country.

But there were many things that immediately jarred about 5ft 6in Gordon Strachan’s shifting of the blame for Scotland’s shortcomings at the door of inadequate genetics. A lack of accountability and no obvious solution to the alleged problem for starters. In addition to insufficient empirical evidence linking height with lofty achievements in the sport.

As for the caveat in the Scotland manager’s argument? The one citing the only nation in history to have won the World Cup in between back-to-back European Championships? That tended to hole it below the waterline before the vessel was even tentatively pushed into the pond.

‘Genetically, we are behind,’ Strachan claimed after Sunday’s draw in Slovenia. ‘In the last campaign, we were the second smallest, apart from Spain.

‘We had to pick a team to combat the height and strength at set-plays. Genetically we have to work at things. Maybe we get big women and men together and see what we can do.’

In attempting to tackle a complex issue with a characteristically quirky sound bite, Strachan must have known he was putting his head in the stocks.

Before the Scotland party had even left Ljubljana with the World Cup hopes at an end, social media was launching rancid tomatoes in his direction. Andres Iniesta and Xavi, Spain and Barcelona’s 5ft 7in wizards. The vertically challenged Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. Jimmy Johnstone and Willie Henderson. All physically small in stature but giants of the game.

Throw in countless images of a towering Andy Murray’s ripped torso interspersed with rugby stars Richie and Jonny Gray (6ft 10in and 6ft 6in, respectively) and Strachan might have wondered if putting his own diminutive frame above the parapet on this issue had been worth the trouble.

Certainly, Professor of Genetics at the University of Kent, Darren Griffin, was of the opinion it had not.

‘I am afraid Gordon is going to have to look somewhere different to genetics,’ he said. ‘If you look at the average height of the Scots, they are still a little bit taller than the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Brazilians and the Argentinians in terms of an average across the country.

‘It may be because of the sample size that the Scottish team are a little bit smaller, but there are great players out there who were not very tall, including Gordon himself.’

Strachan’s general point, that a lack of height and physicality is the most formidable barrier to progress for Scotland, appears, therefore, at best dubious and at worst balderdash.

Roman Bezjak, the 5ft 10in SV Darmstadt striker who scored twice on Sunday, benefited from the inability of Darren Fletcher and Christophe Berra to defend set-pieces. Both men are 6ft and 6ft 3in respectively. Pygmies they are not. It was their lack of defensive instinct — not inches — that proved so costly in our final qualifying game. Widening the debate to other World Cup hopefuls further undermines Strachan’s core point. Of the ten tallest European nations in qualifying, six are already making alternative plans for next summer.

In a historical context, the side which Scotland started with in Slovenia — average height 5ft 11in — was taller than the Spain, Argentina and Brazil teams which won World Cups in 2010, 1986 and 1970 respectively and were the measure of the triumphant Brazilian 2002 vintage.

Suspending reality for a second, though, what if there was a direct correlation between height and success at that level? Strachan clearly believes that to be the case. Isn’t it his job to find another way? To maximise our strengths and minimise our weaknesses? Isn’t that what shrewd football management is meant to be about? It does have the whiff of a smokescreen about it.

‘Emotions are running high after the game,’ said former Scotland striker Kris Boyd. ‘If you go and speak to him this morning, he’d probably tell you a totally different answer. I think what he was trying to get across was the fact we’ve lost two goals from two set-plays.’ This fixation with physicality manifested itself in Strachan’s starting line-up. The English Championship is awash with players who are physically imposing yet lack the necessary technique. Call Chris Martin (left) to the stand.

The Derby striker became something of an unlikely hero in the latter part of this campaign on the back of his late winning goal against Slovenia in March and the pressure he applied as Slovakia’s Martin Skrtel scored an own goal last Thursday.

However, doing his utmost to fulfil a role that either John McGinn or Callum McGregor were more natural fits for, Martin’s race was run long before Bezjak equalised. As grim as the picture looked in those early second-half minutes, the situation was by no means irretrievable. All Scotland needed to make the play-offs was one goal.

So why did Strachan go through with the introduction of Ikechi Anya (three goals in three years) — when James Forrest (seven goals this season alone) remained on the bench? Only he knows, and you begin to wonder if the Scotland manager is so besotted with genetics that he views the English Championship as being better than the best our top flight has to offer. Now that really would be the height of nonsense.