ONEECKOFADANGERMAN
McLeish’s role in rise of Milinkovic-Savic could come to haunt Scots
SLOW and lazy. That was the withering verdict delivered by Alex McLeish the first time he clapped eyes on Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. That he has subsequently been forced into a complete overhaul of his opinion on Serbia’s star midfielder is both a source of professional pride and nagging concern for the former Scotland boss ahead of this week’s Euro 2020 play-off final in Belgrade.
McLeish’s initial assessment on the Lazio man was no idle observation. Newly installed as the boss of Genk in August 2014, Milinkovic-Savic was part of a squad of rough diamonds waiting to be polished up by a new manager.
Within 12 months, MilinkovicSavic would deliver a £16million windfall for the Belgians, but not before McLeish and his assistant Alex Rae instilled some west of Scotland graft into the ambling midfielder’s game.
Six years on and Milinkovic-Savic is a star turn for Lazio in Italy’s Serie A, valued at £80m and linked with Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United.
More pertinently, he may present the single biggest danger to Scotland’s hopes of qualifying for a major tournament in 22 years.
Serbia’s place in the play-off final came via the crashing impact of the double-barrelled substitute as he struck twice in Oslo to deny Norway and boy wonder Erling Haaland.
The sight of Milinkovic-Savic casually dinking the ball home for a show-stopping winner took McLeish back to his early days in Belgium.
‘Genk had decided to change coaches not long into the season,’ recalls McLeish. ‘The club was running on empty in terms of finances so the board’s criteria stated that we couldn’t buy before we sold. The story of my life really!
‘I said fair enough and we inherited a lot of young players. Alex and I were really studious of the academy and also the
Under-21s. We were watching reserve games and, quite frankly, Big Sergej looked slow and lazy.
‘His recovery in terms of getting back to help out defensively just wasn’t there. We filmed all the games, so I took him into my office and asked him what he thought.’
Signing Milinkovic-Savic had been somewhat accidental. Genk’s technical director Gunter Jacob had travelled to Serbia to scout his younger brother Vanja, then operating as Vojvodina’s goalkeeper on loan from Manchester United.
Instead it was Sergej who caught the eye and was ultimately delivered to McLeish’s predecessor Emilio Ferrera for the price of a few hundred thousand euros.
‘Sergej was only 19 but he had been bought for the first team,’ adds McLeish. ‘He told me the previous coach had started him early in the season but my predecessor obviously saw similar things and decided to leave him out.
‘But he was very studious and he wanted to learn. I showed him some video analysis of a Monday night 21s game. An attack of ours broke down on the edge of the box and the opposition countered.
‘Sergej was jogging back and there were all these Anderlecht shirts running past him to support their players on the break.
‘I showed him that and he shook his head and said: “Coach, I know, I’m used to playing No10 in Serbia”.
‘I told him I saw him more as a 6 or an 8, a more box-to-box role.
‘We did some training with him in terms of balls breaking down on the edge of the box. We’d have him sprinting back to narrow that gap between him and the defenders. We did it maybe six times, just a simple little exercise, that’s all it took.
‘To be fair, Sergej was a lovely boy and he responded to that specific training and brought his talent to the games. He played another game in the reserves and was much better.
‘He just needed that arm round the shoulder, that guidance.
‘Soon he was doing box-to-box without me having to shout at him and when I saw the effort he put in, that he was listening to what was said, I introduced him to the bench.’
Not for the first time, MilinkovicSavic proved to be the perfect impact substitute.
McLeish continued: ‘We had an away game at Cercle Brugge, he came on and made an impact and we won. I then started him and couldn’t leave him out.
‘He has two great feet. He is a big loping runner, almost like Paul Pogba, but also powerful. He is 6ft 4ins and a helluva footballer.
‘Typical directors, they were
‘I SHOWED HIM VIDEOS WHERE HE HAD FAILED TO TRACK BACK AND TO BE FAIR HE TOOK IT ON BOARD’
‘STEVE CLARKE WILL BE WELL AWARE OF THE DANGER SERGEJ POSES. WHEN YOU THINK OF THE IMPACT HE MADE IN ITALY, HE IS PLAYING TO INCREDIBLE HEIGHTS’
asking why did I not play him at the start but I told them if they were to study all those reserve games as we had they would know!
‘After that he was curling in balls to the top corner with either foot, hitting free-kicks. Great to watch.
‘The rest is history. I left at the end of that season and so did he shortly after to join Lazio.’
After a brief spell in Egypt with Zamalek, McLeish would accept the Scottish FA’s offer of a second crack as national coach.
His sophomore stint in charge was a harsh endorsement of the old maxim that one should never revisit the scene of past glories.
Yet if a 3-0 drubbing in Kazakhstan at the outset of the Euro qualifiers proper remains a vividly painful memory, his ultimate legacy could be enriched by events this week.
McLeish led Scotland into UEFA’s inaugural Nations League and he fulfilled the job’s first requirement by making the play-offs.
It’s taken Clarke time to drill the squad into an international version of the Kilmarnock team he made so difficult to beat but successive clean sheets in last month’s triple header with Israel, Slovakia and the Czech Republic should fortify the team as it travels to Belgrade.
Serbia represent a significant upgrade on the Israel side only beaten after a penalty shoot-out in the semi-final at Hampden, but McLeish reckons Clarke will have a plan to suit the occasion.
‘Stevie has been round the block for these kind of games,’ offers McLeish. ‘He has done his stints at Liverpool and Chelsea under top managers with tactical methods and how to overcome these challenges. If I go back to my Rangers days, we were having a bad time in my last season. We had injuries but it’s still Rangers, you have to win.
‘In the Champions League we had to be more tactical. But we qualified for the last 16 that year with young Ross McCormack scoring the goal against Porto.
‘I think the Serbia game will be very tactical, a game of cat and mouse.
‘It will be tough but at least there won’t be that incendiary, monstrous crowd with fireworks that you would normally associate with games in Belgrade. That can be a good thing for Scotland.
‘Stevie will know all the danger men. They’ve also got Aleksandar Mitrovic, who needs no introduction. I’m quite close to Fulham’s ground and I watch a lot of their stuff.
‘He made the first goal for Bobby Reid on Monday night and he is a very good finisher himself.’
Perhaps the recall of Norwich defender Grant Hanley points to a specific plan to contain Mitrovic — but taming the more elusive Milinkovic-Savic may be trickier.
McLeish was impressed with his former protégé’s match-winning antics in Oslo but sincerely hopes he has a quieter night this week.
‘That was an incredible result in Norway,’ he added. ‘Everybody expected Norway to go through, for Haaland to take them through. Instead it was my big pal Sergej who did the job with those two late goals. He has that in his locker.
‘I’m rooting for Scotland. Stevie will hopefully read this but he’ll be well aware of the stature of Sergej anyway and recognise the danger.
‘When you think of the impact he has made in Serie A, he is playing to incredible heights. Those “L” plate days at Genk are long gone.’
Having played his part in helping Scotland to the cusp of the Euros, McLeish hopes he hasn’t unwittingly added inches to the height of the final hurdle.
‘THE REST IS HISTORY... SOON HE WAS CURLING IN BALLS TO THE TOP CORNER AND EARNING A BIG MOVE’