TRUST IN ME
Beaten again but McLeish says he is still the man
ALEX MCLEISH insists he is still the man to turn around scotland’s fortunes after Portugal stretched the national team’s losing streak to six in eight games.
Despite missing superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and most of their top players, the European champions capitalised on defensive errors from a reshaped scots defence to run out easy winners before a hampden crowd of just 19,684. steven
Naismith’s stoppage-time goal offered the Scots a crumb of comfort ahead of a crucial UEFA Nations League double-header against Albania and Israel next month. The Israelis top the group after their 2-0 win over Albania last night. Under pressure after two defeats in four days, however, McLeish said: ‘There are other examples of managers being under the cosh in recent times. Michael O’Neill (Northern Ireland) and Stanislav Cherchesov in the Russian camp and they persevered and came through it. I’ll always have that determination. ‘For years, every time you lose a game you know there is going to be criticism, you have to take it on the chin and bounce back. It’s about resilience. ‘I’ve had a few knocks in the past and also a lot of success. It’s never easy to lose and of course that was a tough weekend — but I have to stand up and be brave and take that and take it forward.’ Just eight months into his second spell as manager, McLeish has won just two games — against Hungary and Albania. He acknowledged the heavy criticism that followed Thursday’s 2-1 defeat to Israel and added: ‘Obviously, I’m aware of it. I guess it determines next month, we’ll see. ‘We look to try to qualify, we’ll do everything we can to do that next month. We’re in that group with Israel and Albania for a reason. It’s because of the rankings. ‘I look at them as cup finals. We want to win the two of them. We look for everyone to be on their A game when it comes to those two games.’ Travelling to Glasgow after Thursday’s 3-2 win in Poland, a much-changed Portugal side took
the lead through Helder Costa before half-time. Further goals from Eder and winger Bruma threatened a repeat of September’s 4-0 home defeat to Belgium until Hearts striker Naismith pulled one back in additional time. ‘We shot ourselves in the foot against the two top teams, Belgium and Portugal, with the basic errors that we made. That’s the disappointing aspect of it,’ admitted McLeish. ‘You expect the top teams to cut through you with some majestic skill and leave you trailing — but we were the perpetrators of our own mistakes. ‘I thought we played well, I thought there was a lot of good football, we had a good game plan, the structure was compact, we pressed when we had a chance to press and we tried to stay high on the goal-kicks. ‘But we knew we were up against top-class players. I know there was a lot of Portugal players rested but there was still a lot of money on the pitch.’ Changing his much-criticised 3-5-2 formation to a 4-4-1-1, McLeish refused to say if he will stick with four at the back — potentially leaving out Celtic’s Kieran Tierney. ‘I know every system there is to know. I’ve coached teams before with three at the back and it’s been quite fashionable recently,’ said McLeish. ‘We want to adapt to different formations. It’s about getting the right balance. For the Albania game, it really worked. ‘I am not making any decision at this particular moment.’ Admitting he hopes to have Leigh Griffiths back in the squad after the Celtic striker withdrew citing ‘fitness issues’, McLeish added: ‘I had a chat with Leigh last week and he said that physically he had to get better. That’s an individual choice. ‘I admire him for that because he wants to get to a level of fitness when he can blow Brendan Rodgers away — and blow the nation away — and hopefully fire the goals to get him to where he wants to be fitness-wise. ‘I want anyone back in the squad who can score a lot of goals and be a real threat and give me options.’