New boys have Matt positively glowing
WHILE Matt Phillips couldn’t claim a goal to mark the occasion, his shift as Scotland’s stand-in striker was made pleasurable by the quality of the supply line behind him.
Indeed, Phillips feels the debut displays of Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor offered huge positives from Thursday night’s friendly defeat to Holland.
Whatever problems the next Scotland manager might encounter, a lack of attacking midfield options won’t be among them.
That is the department where winger Phillips was deployed during the latter part of the unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign.
At Pittodrie, however, interim boss Malky Mackay sought to use his power and pace at the apex of a 4-2-3-1 set-up.
The experiment delivered mixed results. While Phillips’ movement posed a persistent threat to the Dutch centre-backs, a lack of natural striking instinct saw him fail to capitalise on the chances that came his way in a 1-0 defeat.
‘I thoroughly enjoyed playing that role,’ insisted Phillips. ‘The boys put some good balls through for me. There are times when I can do better with my back to goal, but I enjoyed the experience.
‘I don’t know what will happen with it in the future. I’m just delighted to be in the reckoning and I was delighted to start.
‘I feel I had two opportunities — ones that I would take on another day. But I will take the positives that I got myself into the right positions.
‘A couple of years ago, I might have let it bother me. But I look upon it as a positive that I played a different role and managed to get a couple of chances.’
Christie and McGregor were both influential in that regard, carrying their respective club form for Aberdeen and Celtic onto the international stage.
‘We have the players to create for whoever is playing up front,’ declared Phillips. ‘I think you could see that against Holland when we played some really good stuff
‘Ryan and Callum were brilliant on their debuts. As a team, we stuck to the game-plan and I think we did well.
‘There is definitely a lot of competition for those roles in behind the striker and that is what you want.
‘There is an opportunity to build for the next qualifying campaign and everyone will be fighting to get a shirt.’
It was Christie who operated in the left-wing role often filled by Phillips during the latter stages of Gordon Strachan’s Scotland tenure.
‘Ryan impressed me,’ added the 26-year-old. ‘I think you could say that about a lot of the players because we were unlucky to lose. ‘We had four or five days together and everyone played their part.
‘I think we can definitely be optimistic about the future. There were a lot of new faces involved in the game. And it was the same towards the end of the last World Cup campaign.
‘The lads who have come into the squad have been great and everyone wants to stay involved.
‘Craig Gordon was saying he didn’t have a shot to save against Holland. We had a few chances and, overall, I think we gave a good account of ourselves.’
SFA chief executive Stewart Regan confirmed pre-match on Thursday that performance director Mackay was not in the running to become Strachan’s replacement on a permanent basis. Scotland will not be back in action until a likely spring friendly, but would the squad like to see an appointment made sooner rather than later to provide certainty?
‘As players, it’s not for us to say,’ responded Phillips. ‘Whoever is the manager, they will get 100 per cent from everyone in the dressing room.’
For now, Phillips’ priority is to try to recapture regular football at club level and help West Brom overcome a poor start to their league season. The winger has not started since September 30, in the midst of a ten-game winless streak for Tony Pulis’ men.
‘No-one likes to be left out but the manager is now playing in a different way.
‘I respect his decision and, when called upon, I will be ready.’