The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Hartley tips Scots for Euro play-offs
Ex-Dundee boss says McLeish’s injury-hit squad can do it
Paul Hartley is confident Scotland can make the Nations League play-offs despite the raft of absentees from Alex McLeish’s squad.
The Scots have three points from two Group C 1 games and travel to face Albania on Saturday before hosting leaders Israel three days later at Hampden Park in their final fixture.
McLeish was already shorn of several key players before Blackburn defender Charlie Mulgrew, Kilmarnock’s Stephen O’Donnell, Kevin McDonald of Fulham and Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon withdrew through injury over the weekend.
Hamburg defender David Bates, Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack, Manchester United playmaker Scott McTominay and Hoops’ number two stopper Scott Bain were drafted in on Sunday.
Former Dundee manager Hartley, who played under McLeish during his first spell as national team boss, believes there is still enough quality within the squad to top the section.
At a William Hill media event in Glasgow, he said: “It is two big games and we have to get two big results.
“The manager has got to think, ‘OK, they are not part of the group, I have got to go with the group that we have got and the guys I have brought into the squad’ and he has an exciting group.
“We definitely have a good enough squad to carry us through. We have more than enough quality in the squad to get a result.
“Look at the squad, we have some good players and some good young players who are on form.
“The Celtic lads are on form, Andy Robertson is on form, Ryan Fraser is on form.
“These are teams that we should be beating. We beat Albania convincingly in the first game and the Israel game was disappointing, but this game on Saturday is one that we must win.
“We want to get to the Euros, we have not been at a major finals for 20 years and this group should be thinking, ‘we have the chance to make a wee bit of history here’.”
Despite beating Albania 2-0 at Hampden Park in September, the manner of the 2-1 defeat in Israel the following month has led to a sense of trepidation ahead of Saturday’s match in Shkoder.
However, Hartley called for the country to get behind McLeish and the Scotland team.
The 42-year-old former Dundee and Falkirk manager said: “We need everybody together.
“There has been some negativity surrounding the team but we have to make sure we give the manager full support and players full support.
“We want to get a big crowd behind us next week, it’s a game that we need to win.
“We want to get the fans onside and hopefully that will happen on Saturday, if we get a result.
“There has been a lot of unfair pressure put on the manager but that is modern-day management.
“Gordon Strachan was under pressure, Walter Smith was under pressure, everyone who manages the national team is under pressure because we haven’t qualified for so many years.”