Gemmill tells young Scots to focus on football and forget about impressing Mackay
Scotland Under-21 manager Scot Gemmill has urged his players to concentrate on playing football rather than trying to impress Malky Mackay.
The interim Scotland boss raised a few eyebrows last week when he revealed his first squad since assuming temporary charge, and suggested several of Gemmill’s players were close to being involved.
Instead, players such as Lewis Morgan and Chris Cadden will remain with the under-21s as they prepare for two European Championship qualifiers against Latvia and Ukraine that could put them in a strong position in their group.
However, while Gemmill acknowledges that there is a clear pathway into the first team, he does not want his players to get carried away.
“I think they realise what an opportunity they have,” he said.
“Malky has obviously said a few of them were close to getting into the squad, but they are switched on guys and they know they need to do it with us and their clubs.
“They just need to almost forget about that plan and just concentrate on playing football.
“If their performance is high enough and consistent enough, they will get what they want.”
Gemmill’s side were 2-0 victors against Latvia last time the two teams met, but he is wary of the challenges they will pose at Mcdiarmid Park later this week.
The 46-year-old said: “The scorelines showed we kept a clean sheet but the first half they could easily have scored. They definitely can hurt us on the counter-attack.
“We are expecting one of their players to drop back from the full squad to the 21s. It’s not only offensively we need to be secure, but defensively too.
“That’s where the maturity of the players will come in and the willingness to do the work to win games.”