A WEIGH THE LADS McGhee: Our fitness freaks can scale heights
After seeing some of Scotland’s players weigh their own food, Mark McGhee will never question their professionalism.
That’s why the assistant boss isn’t worried that several of our Englandbased stars won’t have kicked a ball in weeks before facing the Auld Enemy at Hampden.
McGhee revealed the likes of Derby’s Ikechi Anya and Russell Martin of Norwich are often found putting their grub on the scales at the team hotel.
It’s that kind of attention to detail and dedication to staying fit that makes him confident Gordon Strachan’s squad will be at the peak of their powers when the English come calling on June 10.
McGhee said: “The boys who haven’t been playing will have had a break and will have a freshness about them.
“We marvel at the professionalism of this group.
“No matter how good or bad they might be when they run out there and play, they do everything they can to be the best they can possibly be.
“Their preparation and approach to training is fantastic. We’ve got guys like Martin and Anya who weigh their own food. They don’t leave a stone unturned and do everything to a plan.
“You can be sure we can trust any of them who have a period between finishing then starting with us.”
In the last few weeks McGhee and Strachan have spent hours poring over our last clash with England – a 3- 0 defeat at Wembley in November.
And the pair are convinced we can exploit the weaknesses in Gareth Southgate’s side in Glasgow. McGhee said: “There was some great stuff up until England scored their second, in terms of how we closed them down.
“But there were moments when we had to do better. I felt when we crossed the halfway line we were in too much of a hurry to get from A to B.
“Something had to happen in between to get us up the park as a team. We had to be a bit more careful. I’ve watched games lately when teams under pressure have done well but when they win the ball back they give it away again.
“We’ve got to improve on that against them at Hampden. The rest was actually very good. We didn’t get the luck we deserved.
“There’s a way we can approach this game and if we improve on certain aspects of the Wembley performance we can do well.
“We’ ll start to put video together now for what we need in the build-up to the game.
“We’ve already discussed a training plan for that week. Now we’re starting to get down to the nitty gritty of the squad as well as the tactics.”
Having been to Premier League games in recent weeks, McGhee laughed off any suggestion England won’t fancy a World Cup qualifier at Hampden when they should be on their holidays.
He said: “I don’t buy into the fact that some of England’s big players won’t fancy this game.
“You have to know these boys. The likes of Gary Cahill and others – there’s nothing they want more than to come to Glasgow and beat Scotland.
“They’re the exact same as our players. These guys love playing for their country.
“They love carrying the flag and taking us on. I don’t even consider that aspect of it. They will be up for it, don’t worry about that.
“I was at the Tottenham v Bournemouth game a few weeks ago and saw Harry Kane, Dele Alli and the others.
“This Spurs team are terrific, with all of the boys who’ll play against us, the likes of Eric Dier and Kyle Walker as well. They’re a very good team.
“I hadn’t seen Kane enough to really appreciate him before. But I’m starting to get what all the fuss is about now.
“He does a lot of things that are difficult but makes them look easy. He’s also stronger than I thought he was against centrebacks. He’s a top player.”