McLeish dealt blow as three stay home

SCOTLAND: Ritchie, Hanley and McTominay out

Scotland manager Alex McLeish will need to make changes for his second game back in charge after three players withdrew from his squad.

Matt Ritchie, Scott McTominay and Grant Hanley have pulled out ahead of tonight’s friendly against Hungary.

All three started during Friday’s 1-0 Hampden defeat against Costa Rica. Manchester United midfielder McTominay made his debut while Norwich defender Hanley started his first international since 2016, and Newcastle wide player Ritchie also won a recall.

The news leaves McLeish short of options in central defence after losing Russell Martin before the Costa Rica game. Former Dundee defender Jack Hendry could come in to join Charlie Mulgrew and Scott McKenna if McLeish continues with a three-man defence.

Scotland manager Alex McLeish will pick a more experienced team in his second match back in charge tonight.

McLeish handed out five debuts – four of them from the start – during a 1-0 Hampden defeat by Costa Rica on Friday night.

There will be a shift in focus for the friendly against Hungary, although two of the experienced players who did start, Grant Hanley and Matt Ritchie, have pulled out along with Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay.

“It will be a more experienced team,” said McLeish, who could call on the likes of Celtic players Stuart Armstrong, James Forrest and Callum McGregor.

“A lot of players will play who have had caps before and experienced the international arena. That will be more evident.”

McLeish conceded that defeat on Friday had made a positive result in Budapest even more desirable.

“But again, I’m still looking at performance level,” he added.

“We want to try and get a good result with a good performance, and obviously that is encouraging and gives the players evidence that they are on the track to go where we want to go.”

McLeish is adamant his team were not far from that path after half-time against World Cup-bound Costa Rica.

“There was nothing missing in the second half, only finishing,” he said.

“That has to be better. But we looked back with the players and we had five or six chances, pretty decent ones, not halfchances. With a little bit more aggression we could have scored a couple of goals.

“At first there were some teething problems, the fact we are trying to get them to gel together. A lot were playing with their team-mates for the first time. I used the analogy of rotating teams when you are in cup competitions, then you often find that to be the case.

“But we found our feet and we started the second half at a really great level, which was much more like what we were looking for.

“It will be hard to go for 90 minutes at that kind of tempo but we certainly want to be on the front foot.”

McLeish introduced a 3-4-3 formation on Friday, a departure on the 4-2-3-1 system generally favoured by his predecessor, Gordon Strachan.

The tactics worked better in the second half when Scotland pressed the ball better and got on the front foot, and McLeish will continue trying to instil some flexibility into his team’s shape.

“We have obviously learned some things and we can try different players if it’s the same formation, or a four at the back, then we have those options as well,” the former Aberdeen and Scotland defender said.

“Although we are a bit short of rightsided defenders, Grant Hanley is away back and Russell Martin never made it. We have a dearth of right-footers and loads of lefties.

“There’s a chance it will be the same system but we will look at other systems. We want to be flexible, we have to be ready to change tactics at any given moment.

“I want to get the players used to playing in different formations and different styles.”

Alex McLeish hopes to see his Scotland side on the front foot against Hungary in Budapest tonight.