If Leigh is not playing it would be quite hard to pick him
SAYS ALEX McLEISH
HE’S our one striker truly comfortable playing — and scoring — on the international stage. A Tartan Army talisman at absolute ease in the dark blue jersey.
Yet, if Leigh Griffiths continues to flit in and out of the Celtic team, he cannot expect to keep starting for Scotland.
Alex McLeish will have to draw up his own France-style
Bleus-print for banging in the goals. Without help from the centre-forward.
McLeish is deep in planning for the UEFA Nations League kick-off against Albania on September 10.
When he meets for a chat with Brendan Rodgers later this week, the Scotland head coach knows he won’t be able to influence his Celtic counterpart, noting: ‘There is no way I can tell managers what to do and how to run their teams.’
The prospect of Griffiths — a weekend starter in the ‘alternate’ XI beaten 1-0 at Tynecastle — playing third fiddle to £9million signing Odsonne Edouard and Moussa Dembele is a cause of concern.
‘It would be difficult for Leigh to keep his level if he’s not playing much and keeping his match fitness,’ said McLeish. ‘That’s a concern. But the challenge is for Leigh to bang in the goals.
‘It would be very difficult to pick players when they are not playing. They lose match fitness.
‘I don’t have anything up my sleeve (in terms of a goalscorer). I wish I had.
‘We want Leigh back to top fitness because, when he came into the team at the last qualifying, he was on fire.
‘I can’t dig someone out of fresh air but we are keeping an eye on every centre-forward.
‘Jordan Rhodes scored at the weekend and Oli McBurnie at Swansea is playing — and we’re still looking at the guys who played in Gordon Strachan’s era.
‘We hope Griffiths can be ready. At the moment, he looks in good condition.
‘Leigh is better when he plays — he needs to be playing, keeping sharp and scoring goals.
‘He had a couple of chances versus Hearts. But we want him to play to the same level every week.’
All of Griffiths’ four goals for Scotland have come in his last five appearances, the striker’s free-kick double against England at Hampden earning him instant hero status among supporters.
If he’s not there to put chances away, there is no stand-in capable of carrying the same threat.
Noting that this is hardly a new problem for a Scotland boss, McLeish takes solace from how France won the World Cup without Olivier Giroud scoring a single goal.
McLeish (below) said: ‘It’s up to other players. The French world champions had a centre-forward who didn’t score in the tournament.
‘We have to find a dynamic for goal regardless of whether it’s the centre-forward or coming in from wide areas.
‘We know that’s where we’re short. I expect this question every time I meet the press.
‘In Mexico, we put Johnny Russell through the middle. Maybe I’ve got to look for a different dynamic if I don’t get a Leigh Griffiths or Jordan Rhodes or someone else who is scoring goals.
‘I believe there are others in the team who can get goals. Whether it’s through a set-piece or through wide men coming in or from midfielders scoring.
‘But we are looking for this talisman up front.’ At the other end of the park, McLeish says Hearts centre-half John Souttar is ‘on the radar’ after impressing at the weekend, especially with Aberdeen’s Scott McKenna guaranteed to miss both the Albania match and the ‘warmup’ at home to World Cup semi-finalists Belgium three days earlier. Kieran Tierney and Andrew Robertson will both continue to play, with the Scotland boss seeing the Celtic defender slipping into the centre while the Liverpool wing-back bombs forward on the left flank.
Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack also caught the eye of McLeish, while he was impressed with a number of performances by our boys south of the border at the weekend — notably Ryan Fraser’s goal-scoring showing for Bournemouth and John McGinn hitting the ground running at Aston Villa.
As for whether McGinn might have benefited more from playing for Celtic, with all the Champions League possibilities that might bring, he said: ‘I don’t think it’s necessary for John to play there right now.
‘With the start he’s made there at Villa, the likelihood is that he will be playing most weeks and that’s important.’
Turning his attention to the Nations League, McLeish added: ‘It’s important to realise that the most important game is the Albania one.
‘I know punters might be more captivated by the Belgium match. But the Albania game is much more important in the grand scheme of things.
‘We’ve got to start winning. We know there’s this perception that we’ll not do it. We need to change that.
‘Qualifying with Scotland would be up there with anything I’ve done as a coach. The next guy who gets Scotland to a major finals will be a national hero.’ lTICKETS for Scotland’s two UEFA Nations League home matches and two friendlies go on general sale to the public from 12 noon on Friday, with kids’ tickets available for as little as £5. Visit tickets.scottishfa.co.uk for more information.