A STRIKING CONCERN
The only way to stop the despondency is by winning. There are a lot of changes to come and those changes will be positive
Concerns persist over the misfiring Scotland front line but could Boro misfit Rhodes be the man to step up and come to the rescue?
THREE and a half years have passed since Gordon Strachan effectively wrote off Jordan Rhodes’ international career but so dire is his need that he has given serious thought to asking the recalled striker to score the goals that will save his job.
Anything less than a win from tonight’s qualifier against Slovenia will not only extinguish any flicker of interest in qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals but will surely result in the manager falling on his sword.
Listening to assistant boss Mark McGhee, you get the impression that Strachan is prepared to go on the attack.
Although the midweek warm-up against Canada at Easter Road did nothing for morale, this evening’s team selection will bear next to no resemblance to the bunch who laboured to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday and there could feasibly be as many as nine changes to the team, with Ikechi Anya and Charlie Mulgrew most likely to survive.
Nevertheless, as McGhee wearily admitted on Thursday, the striking department is a concern. Leigh Griffiths is set to start this evening but has spent most of 2017 warming the bench for Brendan Rodgers at Celtic.
‘Most of them are not playing regularly and that is a problem,’ admitted McGhee. ‘Steven Fletcher and Chris Martin haven’t been playing regularly. As a striker myself, I always felt that I wanted to play every week. You need to miss chances to score chances. When you cherry pick games with a striker it is hard to get into a vein of form. I think our strikers will suffer from that.’
Five more Celtic players are in line to bolster the selection. Craig Gordon is set to replace Allan McGregor in goal, while Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong and James Forrest are all in serious contention to start.
Strachan has admitted he may go with a second striker and that is where Rhodes would come in. On loan from Middlesbrough, the 27-year-old has been keeping Fletcher out of the Sheffield Wednesday team and he earned some rare praise from Strachan for his contribution as he earned his first cap in two years from the bench against the Canadians.
Last competitively involved as a substitute in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Gibraltar, Rhodes has been consistently omitted because Strachan, as stated in 2013, had come to the conclusion that he is ‘at his best playing with another striker, lots of people around him and lots of crosses’.
‘I think that has been my perception (too),’ continued McGhee, ‘but I think seeing him recently then in Wednesday’s game and at training he looks to me a player that has developed and is doing much, much better. His play outside of the box is much improved and he also has such an eye for goal. ‘Gordon was standing beside me at training on Thursday and, at one point, Jordan scored a goal and he said: “Aye, just pass it into the net”. It was like that, he just rolled the ball firm and fast enough that the goalie wasn’t getting it.
‘There was no urgency about it. It was just total calmness. He is a good finisher, he really is.’
If Strachan does deviate from his 4-2-3-1 system to accommodate two strikers, Rhodes would be a natural choice. If not, he is a contender to be called from the bench.
Ironically, Rhodes has re-emerged at a time when his domestic form is at its least prolific. He has routinely broken the 20-goal mark since moving from Ipswich to Huddersfield in 2009 but has found the net just three times this season.
With no goals from a miserable first half of the season at Middlesbrough — the club he helped fire to promotion after his £9million transfer from Blackburn — he has been playing regularly for Wednesday but could fail to make double figures. The numbers may be worrying but McGhee detects no hang-ups in the player’s demeanour.
He added: ‘The way Gordon will look at it is that rather than saying “we want to play this way” with a targetman or whatever, I think he will look to put in the player that is most positive and will look to do what he does best.
‘I thought Jordan showed some good signs against Canada, I really did. And, funnily enough, I think he is the type of personality that almost transcends what I said earlier. He does what he does regardless. He seems to quite consistently be the same player and maybe it’s not as important to him to be playing every week as it is to, say, Chris Martin.’
Rhodes may have passed up a good opportunity to score in midweek but McGhee saw promise in his movement in getting across the defender to meet Griffiths’ cut-back.
There is, of course, nothing in the rulebook that says a team’s goals have to come from a centre-forward and Scotland possess at least one midfielder who is scoring regularly at club level.
Armstrong will celebrate his 25th birthday this week and, although it is a surprise he has remained uncapped for so long, the country’s form player should be handed a key role this evening.
‘When you see him close up he is
very aggressive around the ball and strong on it,’ observed McGhee. ‘Since he has gone into the middle of the park he has blossomed. One of the things Gordon will be looking for is people who are playing with positivity, confidence and energy and he certainly fits all of those.
‘We need goals in the team. I always do an exercise at the start of the season where I look at my team and the number of goals players get consistently over their careers. If the numbers add up to 40 you are going to get relegated, if it adds up to 70 then you have a chance. ‘Armstrong is one who has a goal in him at the minute, therefore he needs to be considered.’ There has been a very distinct sense in the Scotland camp that the Canada fixture was an entirely separate entity from tonight’s contest and a flit from Edinburgh digs to the squad’s favoured base on the banks of the Clyde enhanced the impression of a new leaf being turned. The view will be reflected on the team sheet. As well as the Celtic contingent there is also a likelihood of Russell Martin coming in at centre-half and Newcastle’s Matt Ritchie adding a threat from the flank. Tom Cairney was arguably the team’s most impressive performer in midweek but the Fulham playmaker may have to settle for a place on the bench.
‘The only way to stop the despondency is by winning,’ said McGhee. ‘If the same 11 players who trooped off on Wednesday were the ones starting on Sunday then we would have a problem.
‘I am not sure there is a story we could have told them that would convince them they would beat Slovenia. But the fact is it is not the same group.
‘There will be a lot of changes and those changes will be positive. Matt Ritchie is available, James Morrison is available, all the Celtic lads are available, Ryan Fraser may be available. So there is a lot of change to come and those changes will be positive.’