IT’S TIME TO UNLEASH THE CELTIC SIX
Packing Scotland full of Parkhead power might just be the way to go when a win is so vital, says Gordon
IN swiftly regaining his Celtic place at the expense of the much-vaunted sweeper-keeper Dorus de Vries, Craig Gordon has one triumph regarding the over-complication of football to his name this season. Put your best goalkeeper between the sticks and trust him to make great saves.
Now here’s another stunningly simplistic idea worth considering, aimed at flushing out some of the failings from this sinking Scotland campaign. Flood the team with as many Celtic players as Gordon Strachan can lay his hands on against Slovenia tonight.
There are six such players, including goalkeeper Gordon, at Strachan’s disposal who are entirely unfamiliar with the concept of losing matches thanks to their involvement in an historic season at Celtic Park under Brendan Rodgers.
Six players sailing through a season on a 36-match unbeaten domestic run. Six players in the process of landing a bloodless title success, on the brink of a trophy clean sweep and with a winning mentality to bring to a World Cup qualifying cause crippled by a dismal opening series of results.
‘We are playing well at the moment, we know each other’s game and there is a case for everybody playing,’ said Gordon of his Parkhead colleagues. ‘We know how each other play, there are partnerships there that people know and play at club level.
‘There is confidence and not being used to losing, so you go into the games expecting to do well. You can never expect to win any game but if you go in with the confidence that you are playing well, which we are, it certainly helps winning games.’
Gordon believes Scotland can not only cash in on the feelgood factor brought to the camp by an infusion of champions but, in the testing environment of a make-or-break Russia 2018 qualifier on the Hampden stage, benefit from a calmness and problemsolving temperament.
Celtic have waded their way through tricky spells in matches this season to remain on the path to ‘Invincibles’ status.
‘We’ve dealt with setbacks or problems at Celtic really well because you are never going to go through a season and not have them, not have to come back from things,’ noted Gordon.
‘And every time we’ve been asked to do that we’ve been able to. ‘As a group, we have that and, hopefully, we can bring it to this team as well.’ Letting loose The Celtic Six on tonight’s visitors to Hampden would see Gordon retain his place in goal, Kieran Tierney deployed at left-back, Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong paired in central midfield, James Forrest set to race on the right with Leigh Griffiths up front. Without a Celtic start in 2017 and following half an hour against Canada in Edinburgh, Griffiths would be the most surprising selection of the Celtic sextet but his goalscoring prowess could be just what Strachan needs today. The other five — starters at Dens Park last Sunday — rested up in midweek to watch the plodding Easter Road friendly from the sidelines. Gordon, fresh-from-retirement Brown, Forrest and Griffiths all started at Wembley in November as England prevailed 3-0. However, the real damage was done to Scotland’s campaign in October when only a last-minute James McArthur equaliser spared home defeat to Lithuania before Strachan oversaw a dismal 3-0 reverse to Slovakia. Tierney’s appearance in Trnava was the only start from a Celt in that desperate double header. Gordon is confident the partnerships he watches at play on a weekly basis can flourish on the international stage. ‘I don’t want to give away too many of our secrets but, if Leigh plays, we know how he likes to play as a striker, the areas he likes to get in and get his shots off,’ explained Gordon. ‘So we can always be looking for the types of passes that he’s going to enjoy.
‘Further back, there is Scott and Stuart, who have played together most of the season and they enjoy playing together.
‘They work very well. They both have really good legs and energy and get about the park.
‘Scott is the more naturally defensive of the two. Stuart can get himself in the box and has got a lot of goals this season by doing that. As a partnership, they work really well in the centre. So maybe we can see some more of that.’
Gordon was inspired in goal the last time Scotland achieved a clean sheet — against Denmark a year ago at Hampden when Matt Ritchie netted the only goal of the game.
As he prepares to earn his 46th cap, pinching a tactical piece of Celtic savvy is suggested as a way to protect his goal. Malta, Lithuania and Canada have all breached a dodgy Scotland defence since the Danes were defeated in friendly action.
‘I did play against Denmark so, hopefully, I can get another one (clean sheet),’ he said. ‘We’ve probably not defended well enough as a team. That’s not just the guys at the back, it’s the entire team. If you look at the way we played at club level, we’ve really gone after teams and put them on the back foot.
‘We’ve pressed and chased them down. If we can take that into this team, it’s going to take a lot of the pressure off the defence. We need to defend all over the pitch, close people down and be prepared to do the unselfish work.
‘When we have the ball, there is no doubt that we can play. But we have to do the other side of things, too.’
November’s Wembley loss marked Gordon’s first competitive start for Scotland in seven years and served as one of several points of vindication for his remarkable comeback from two years out of the game through injury.
The return to No1 status — albeit one he can never take for granted with talent such as David Marshall and Allan McGregor in his midst — was a significant milestone. But it also created a whole
new strand of objectives to motivate Gordon and that should be good news for Scotland. ‘To play competitively for Scotland again was always one of the long-term goals,’ he added. ‘That was a big focus of what I wanted to achieve coming back. There were a lot of steps between that. ‘But, certainly, that was the one I thought about. If I did get back playing and doing well for a big team then, to get noticed by the national team, for me that would be kind of putting that behind me and getting back to where I felt I was before. So, mentally, that was a big thing to get chosen to play a competitive game again. It was a final box ticked in a way. Then, when you get there, you reassess it and go again.
‘The next thing would be to stay there. To try and get to 50 caps. Try and go beyond that and get as many as I possibly can. That was the aim. And now I have more to aim at.
‘I want to keep playing for Scotland and my club for as long as possible,’ he said. ‘Obviously, it depends on my body. If I can steer clear of injuries and be able to play that many games, I will do that.
‘It’s not easy as there are so many fixtures and you don’t get time off, but, yeah, that’s what I want to do.
‘It would be good to get back the years that I lost. You are a long time retired. I had a taste of that when I was out and I don’t want to experience it again.
‘I have no intention of retiring from Scotland any time soon. We all want to be the No1 keeper.
‘It’s definitely what all the guys are vying for. I played the last one but it was my first for seven years, so I don’t consider myself “established” just yet.’