Can Strachan turn the tide at Wembley?
EVEN England’s lacklustre stalemate in Slovenia seems full of hope when compared to Scotland’s display on Tuesday. Gordon Strachan’s men, who face England at Wembley next month, lost 3-0 to a struggling Slovakia side. Where can Strachan go from here? Our man in Scotland JOHN GREECHAN has the answers.
WHAT ON EARTH’S GONE WRONG FOR SCOTLAND?
You could trace it all the way back to the birth of international football at Hamilton Crescent, Glasgow, in 1872. If Scotland hadn’t bagged a 0-0 draw with England that day, if only our boys had taken a beating, we might have given the game up. And spared the nation a great deal of misery.
WHAT HAS GONE WRONG IN THIS CAMPAIGN?
Many of the same things that went askew last time, when we finished fourth in our Euro 2016 qualifying group. After a promising, slightly luck-assisted 5-1 thrashing of Malta away, the performances at home to Lithuania and on Tuesday night in Slovakia have been pitiful; bloodless, lifeless, limp.
WHO IS COPPING MOST OF THE BLAME?
Gordon Strachan. His team, his tactics, his responsibility. The fact that he continues to talk about improved performances and ‘progress’ is merely an annoyance to the Tartan Army, who are fed up with being served low-grade mince and told it’s filet mignon.
SHOULDN’T THE SFA COP SOME OF THE FLAK?
Definitely. SFA chief executive Stewart Regan almost giggles like a giddy schoolgirl whenever Strachan is mentioned; he’s besotted by the unique charms of a manager whose one-liners can fool some of the people, all of the time. Instead of holding a proper review after the failure in the last campaign, the SFA virtually begged Gordon to stay on.
AND THE PLAYERS?
There is no one in the current crop that compares to Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness or — most importantly, given the dearth of quality in central defence — an Alex McLeish-Willie Miller partnership. Better teams than this have fallen short in qualification over the last 18 years… and counting. But few of the present generation have covered themselves in glory.
HOW LONG WILL STRACHAN GET?
Huge question. The SFA have to ask themselves whether trying to fit in a new manager for next month’s trip to Wembley is a bigger risk than letting Strachan (right), who is failing miserably, carry on leading a squad who must know he’s on his way out.
WHO ARE THE CONTENDERS?
This cry of ‘but who else can we get?’ is one of the most annoying reasons cited for retaining Strachan. While the bookies have rushed out a list of their usual contenders, including Paul Lambert, David Moyes and even Sir Alex Ferguson, there is literally a whole world to choose from. Surely no Scottish supporters would turn up their nose at a foreign coach with a track record of guiding middle-sized footballing nations through successful qualifying campaigns.
ARE THERE PLENTY OF YOUNGSTERS EMERGING?
Ah, now. Oliver Burke, RB Leipzig’s £13million star, may come to something. Ryan Gauld is trying to break through in Portugal. Celtic’s much-hyped Karamoko Dembele is 13 years old, for goodness’ sake. Scotland Under 21s were turned over 2-0 in Macedonia on Tuesday night. Looks like we’re stuck with many of the same old faces. But maybe the new manager would pick forwards like Ross McCormack and Jordan Rhodes, consistently overlooked despite the weight of their club goals.
IS THIS THE LOWEST EBB FOR THE SCOTS, THEN?
Let’s not go overboard. We’ve been in some pretty dire straits before this. Craig Levein taking a team to Prague and playing a 4-6-0 formation came to epitomise the air of abject surrender surrounding Scotland at the time. Failing to beat the Faroe Islands, a 6-0 thrasing by Holland in a play-off, losing 9-3 to England… we have a proud history of misery.
BUT IT’S PRETTY SERIOUS, RIGHT?
Yes. We’ve already got almost zero chance of qualifying for the next World Cup. We’re going to hit that 20-year anniversary of our last major finals appearance — France ’98 — and simply watch it fly past, joining a long list of tournaments which have managed to get along just fine without us.
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL?
There is one bright spot on the gloomy horizon: Wembley next month. England expects. Just how we like it.