Naismith retains belief but wants an end to naivety
THE boos at the final whistle only intensified as the Scotland players trudged towards the Tartan Army to take their medicine.
As Alex McLeish joined his sheepish bunch on their weary way to the corner of the Sammy Ofer Stadium, the jeering only got louder.
Striker Steven Naismith, a veteran of more than a few disappointments in a Scotland shirt, perfectly understood the travelling support’s frustration.
Equally, he warned against rushing to judgment so soon into McLeish’s second reign as national coach.
The Hearts striker admits Scotland were naive in their approach to the Nations League challenge in Haifa. A 2-1 defeat flattered the visitors. He also knows the display came nowhere near matching the level attained when he scored in the 2-0 opening-night win over Albania at Hampden.
‘I wouldn’t say it is a reflection of where we are at,’ claimed Naismith. ‘There was a naivety about us. It is a young side and a young squad and we gave up too much ground to them, simple as that. If we had been dangerous, gone on the front foot a bit, made that call then maybe we would not have got punished as heavily as we did.
‘I don’t think there should be an over-reaction to this result. We still have two games to go and we have got more than enough in the squad to qualify from the group.
‘It was disappointing but we gain experience in how to manage a game. We have Albania away next and we are liable to face similar situations in that game.’
Paired with Johnny Russell in attack, Naismith cut an often isolated figure in Israel as the team struggled to implement the game-plan laid out by McLeish.
There will be scrutiny of the manager’s position but despite an alarmingly poor performance and a spate of prior call-offs, Naismith denies there is any dressing-room resistance to McLeish’s methods.
‘The manager still has the backing of the players,’ he added. ‘You just need to look at last month’s result against Albania and everybody was feeling good, but I think we are moving forward.’
Meanwhile, John McGinn, for so long stuck on the outer fringes of Gordon Strachan’s squad, now looks a sure starter when fit but found himself with too much to do in Haifa.
Just as a bright start to his Aston Villa career has been blighted by the sacking of Steve Bruce, the former Hibs man’s emergence for Scotland comes at a time when the way forward appears cloudy.
‘We’re back to square one,’ admitted McGinn. ‘We went to Israel to win, even a point would have been great, but when you go down to 10 men it’s always going to be difficult. Israel used the ball well and got a flukey goal to win it.
‘It was gutting to hear the reaction. Not one player left the park hadn’t given everything, so it was disappointing to hear it.
‘We know how important these games are with Israel and Albania again — and we must win them.’
Whatever the organisational flaws as decreed by management, individual errors contributed to Scotland’s downfall.
The Scotland camp were put out by the red card shown to John Souttar but the centre-back’s slackness in possession put him the wrong side of Moanes Dabour for the awarded foul and left the team depleted for the remainder of the match.
Kieran Tierney, meanwhile, has been consistently dependable for club and country but the Celtic defender looks uncomfortable on the left of a back three and his unease manifested itself in the ugly own goal that settled the game.
‘I don’t think John’s was a sending-off,’ argued McGinn. ‘I don’t even think it’s a foul but these things happen and you have to deal with them.
‘Ultimately the goal is a mistake by Kieran but he’s such a massive part of what we do, it could have been anyone.
‘He apologised but he’s being harsh on himself. He was unlucky and he doesn’t have to apologise to anyone.
‘We all know how good he is.’