Strachan: We can’t boot our way to victory

Gordon Strachan was quick to refute suggestions that he had just been stung by a bee after his first training session of a big week by the banks of the river clyde yesterday.

‘no, I am fine,’ the Scotland manager said, laughing. ‘You need better sources.’

So first blood to Strachan. But what about the unkind things they say about Scottish football these days? Surely that must sting a little?

‘no, it makes me think, “Is his opinion right? how do we get better?” that’s a big thing for me. can we do something about it? I don’t have a problem with that.’

that’s all very well, but at the same time, difficult to believe.

Strachan, like most managers, has his sensitive side. and, while it is easy to dismiss the shrillness of the public or the over-reaction of the media, it is harder to ignore the observations of former team-mates.

Last weekend, former Scotland captain Graeme Souness all but wrote off Scotland’s chances against England at hampden Park this weekend.

‘Well, I’m not going to argue with him, am I?’ said Strachan, with a nod to his old team- mate’s penchant for sporting confrontation.

‘I just know I’m the lucky one. It’s only actions with my team that count. Some people talk and some of us have to do things. I have to do things and so do my players. that’s what I care about.’

the last time we saw Strachan was after a rather unjust 3-0 defeat at Wembley in november. It was feared that result in World cup qualifying would finish him.

But at the team hotel 20 miles outside Glasgow yesterday, Strachan was still there. Still chirping back haphazardly at straight questions, still up for a fight and, more importantly, bolstered by a 1-0 defeat of Slovenia in March that means victory over England would throw his team straight back into the mix for qualification.

Interesting, then, to hear the 60-year-old side-step the theory that old-fashioned fire and brimstone could help on Saturday.

‘Someone was telling me about Scotland’s great home record in World cup qualifiers,’ he said. ‘But Scotland used to be able to boot the living daylights out of any visiting team. the rules have changed now. People come up to me and say, “Get stuck into them and give them plenty!” But we can’t do that any more. We give them plenty and we are playing with 10 men.

‘Years ago, you had the first kick for free. It’s gone now. the game is more civilised. the intimidation is not there any more, stuff you could get away with.

‘It is better for the game because teams like Barcelona have grown out of it. But it has made it different.’

So, if the balance of pure footballing gifts is to decide things this weekend, Scotland are up against it.

there are flickers of light north of the Border as players such as celtic left back Kieran tierney filter through the system. the 20-year-old will play on Saturday with a special mouth guard after taking an elbow to the teeth in the Scottish cup final defeat of aberdeen.

But Strachan admitted yesterday that he would ‘like some more of them’ and instead asked only that his players go about it with a little more composure and get a little more luck than they did in november.

‘In the last game the players lost themselves in the excitement of trying to win it,’ he reflected.

‘the midfield players and the strikers had no fear of what was happening behind them when it came to closing down and things like that. Sometimes you lose yourself in the battle. But it was an unfair result.

‘I said to my assistant Mark McGhee at 2-0, “this isn’t right”, because England had only had two attempts on goal and they had both gone in.

‘I thought the way we stood up to them and didn’t let them play at their pace was good. So there are things we can take from it and other things we will try to work on.’

In Glasgow yesterday, expectations were low. they have been low in Scotland for a while and even Strachan admits this fixture does not rouse people the way it once did.

‘In years gone by you could only watch Jimmy Johnstone once in a blue moon live on tV,’ he said. ‘Same with Jim Baxter, denis Law. now you can see rotten players every week on tV if you want!

‘So this has not got that huge build-up. International football is not what it was.’

Victory over England at hampden may encourage Strachan to revise that view. What’s more, he would enjoy it more than he would ever let on.