Duo’s return may be timed to perfection
McGhee believes Griffiths and Hanley can consign recent troubles to the past by starring in Belgrade
MARK McGHEE confesses to raising a smile when he saw the names of Leigh Griffiths and Grant Hanley recalled to the Scotland squad ahead of the national team’s biggest game in two decades. Both were key figures during McGhee’s stint assisting Gordon Strachan but, for differing reasons, neither has been capped in more than two years.
In the case of Norwich centreback Hanley, injuries have largely been responsible for his absence.
Griffiths’ situation has been a lot more complicated. Scotland’s most natural and instinctive finisher, the Celtic striker emerged as a national hero with two spectacular freekicks against England during the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup.
Griffiths scored in Strachan’s final game in charge but has since endured a troubled couple of years beset by a variety of issues.
Yet to start for Celtic this season, he has retained his ability to turn a game with crucial goals as a substitute against St Johnstone and Aberdeen in recent weeks.
Current national coach Steve Clarke has indicated that he views Griffiths as a perfect weapon to hold in reserve for the Euro 2020 play-off final in Serbia this week and McGhee thinks his selection could prove a master-stroke.
He explained: ‘I’m a massive Leigh Griffiths fan but he frustrates the life out of me as much as he does everybody else — just the way he comes and goes from it.
‘He is a brilliant finisher, he hits the ball as hard as anybody I’ve seen, absolutely smashes it.
‘He wants to get goals, hit shots. He is a great asset to the squad. Whether he plays or comes off the bench, he always has something up his sleeve that he might just produce for you.
‘The way Steve is setting up his team, the aim is not to get beat. So if it all goes to plan you might end up with extra-time and have a chance to win it then.
‘Bringing on somebody like Leigh, who can hit a free-kick or nick a goal when people are starting to tire, is great.
‘It’s better than trying to improvise something at centreforward. If somebody is puffed out or injured we have a genuine potential match-winner to come off the bench at an important time.’
It took Griffiths some time to win over Strachan and McGhee but the arrival of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic elevated the forward’s game to a new level.
‘Around the time of the England game and those two fabulous freekicks, I felt he had really started to turn the corner,’ recalls McGhee. ‘There was a time when I would have thought maybe English Championship at best but he is not going to do it for a Premier League team.
‘But he really evolved under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic and got better in all departments of his game.
‘If Brighton, my local team, had asked me about Griffiths, I would have told them to take him, definitely. He was as good as anybody I would see playing for Brighton at that time. There were loads of bits and pieces to his game that those strikers didn’t have.
‘So at that stage he had really stepped up a notch.’
If Griffiths was a mercurial talent, Hanley fell into the category of solid and dependable.
Already capped at a young age by Craig Levein, he developed into a mainstay under Strachan and McGhee, winning 24 of his 29 caps under their tutelage.
His last appearance came under Alex McLeish in a friendly against Costa Rica in March 2018.
‘Again, for different reasons, Grant has been hot and cold, in and out over the last couple of years,’ noted McGhee. ‘He had a spell there where he was getting injured, not playing for his clubs. And he was maybe moving clubs, he wasn’t quite settled.
‘I have to say that when we first encountered him we had really high hopes. We thought he would go on and do really well. He had all the physical attributes, a lot going for him as a centre-back.
‘He was pretty focused as a boy, a good pro, conscientious and worked hard at his game.
‘He had a lot going for him but his career maybe hasn’t quite gone as I imagined it might given his physical attributes. But injury has probably affected his trajectory. We played him with Russell Martin, sometimes with Christophe Berra, and he just worked away with whoever we had at the time.
‘They all did fine. There’s only a few games that come to mind where we’d think “we’ve lost that goal” — Georgia away would be one.
‘That game was disappointing and defensively we were poor at the goal. By the way, we weren’t that bad.
‘I have not seen Grant up close for ages but I had high hopes for him in terms of his career and what he could do for Scotland.
‘We never came away thinking he had let us down, that’s for sure.’
With successive clean sheets in the last triple header against Israel, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, there’s a school of thought that Clarke will be loath to change his defence for the game in Belgrade.
Yet the return of Hanley, Kieran Tierney and also Leeds United’s Liam Cooper, who was replaced by Andy Considine after the play-off semi-final against Israel, may prompt a rethink.
‘If Steve thinks there’s even more likelihood of a clean sheet with the likes of Grant in the team then he will put him in,’ added McGhee. ‘He might need Scott McTominay somewhere else, for instance.
‘Having Grant would give him that option. If he plays Grant, he won’t let him down.’
Griffiths’ last Scotland goal came in a 2-2 draw in Slovenia that effectively ended Strachan’s tenure. McGhee still rues the fact the country’s first-choice midfield was unavailable for that World Cup qualifier and has his fingers crossed that Clarke’s squad remains fit and healthy this time around.
He added: ‘I think a lot will depend on everybody being available. Last time Steve was missing Tierney, Stuart Armstrong and Ryan Christie. That’s not insignificant.
‘It’s the exact same here. If we go to Serbia without Tierney, Robertson, McTominay, Christie then you know it’s anybody’s guess.
‘But if we have all of them and can design our tactics, perm any combination, an XI from those players, then I think we will do it.’