Formation allows team to thrive – Fletcher

Former Scotland captain Darren Fletcher insists manager Alex McLeish got his tactics spot on in the emphatic victory over 10-man Albania and has backed the national team to exact revenge against Israel.

McLeish has previously come under fire for playing a 3-5-2 formation in trying to accommodate both left-backs Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney in the squad.

Celtic defender Tierney missed out on Saturday’s Uefa Nations League 4-0 win thought injury and a 4-3-3 formation allowed James Forrest, who notched a double, and Ryan Fraser, who also scored, to thrive.

Stoke City midfielder Fletcher had raised concerns about the shape of the side in last month’s dispiriting 2-1 loss in Israel but insists there is plenty of encouragement to draw from the clash in Shkoder.

He said: “It was a much-needed victory.

“The formation really suited us with the wide players, Ryan Fraser and James Forrest, causing problems all night.

“We sat back letting Albania have a lot of possession and we just killed them on the counter-attack, stepping up when we needed to. great victory,

a“It was a comfortable fantastic victory.

‘Tuesday is a must win game gives a great chance to qualify.

“We knew the performance Israel wasn’t good enough. “We allowed them too much possession and we allowed them to control the game. We weren’t aggressive enough but I think that was partly down to the formation.

“This time it will be 4-3-3, it will be pace, it will be aggressive, there will be pressing and it will be up and at them. I think you’ll see a totally different Scotland performance.” night and and level

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Fletcher, who was capped 78 times for Scotland, also believes the players will have benefited from playing against 10 men for more than 70 minutes after Albania captain Mergim Mavraj was sent off for head butting Ryan Christie.

He added: “It’s going to be difficult (against Israel) but I think the biggest thing is they’ve saved a lot of legs and conserved a lot of energy.

“I don’t think it was a difficult game for Scotland physically so there’ll have lots of energy about them come Tuesday.

“The turnaround will be quite short but they’ll be ready for it.”