MALT RISKY
Strach tells key men: Play hard but don’t get banned
GORDON STRACHAN has warned his tightrope-walkers not to take any silly risks at Hampden tonight. The Scotland coach has five men, including skipper Scott Brown one booking from a suspension and just one falsestep against Malta from being ruled out of next month’s showdown against Slovakia. As well as the captain, striker Leigh Griffiths, midfielder James McArthur, and defenders Charlie Mulgrew and Grant Hanley will be out of that match if they are yellow-carded. With tonight’s contest also a crucial must-win in their qualification bid, Strachan cannot afford to leave out anyone to avoid a ban as he confirmed: “No, this has to be done. You have to get a win.”
But he added: “We advised these guys the other night, yes, get angry, but don’t kick the ball away or shout at the referee.
“Play the game. But just don’t do silly things.
“If you get booked by making a tackle that’s going to help us or you make a mistake, there is nothing we can do about that.
“Stand up and be counted. Don’t be bullied by anyone for the sake of not getting that yellow.
“In certain areas, we have to be really worried about someone getting a yellow card and, in other areas, you are like: That’s okay, we are well covered there.”
Brown and Griffiths, in particular, are feisty characters, but Strachan said: “We’ve spoken about the maturity of them, we’ve all seen that. You get more mature.
“They seem to have a different way about them here, where they see they can’t get away with doing sillier things at this level.
“Maybe it is because international referees are on top of you. In fact, the referee and his team was good in Lithuania. They asked me to speak to a player about something that might be a problem later on in the game.
“So I spoke to him. They are right on top of it, they can see everything. They don’t let you get away with anything.”
As well as discipline, Strachan knows the players can’t get away with any performance slips tonight as they battle for second place in the section. Scotland have not won a double-header in a decade – and also haven’t won four consecutive qualifiers in the same period.
Both will have to happen to make the play-offs, but Strachan has asked for patience during tonight’s contest on the pitch and in the stands.
He explained: “England scored four, the last three in the final minutes. It’s about being patient to find areas where to play at a high tempo.
“We looked after the game very well on Friday and will look to do the same. But we need to have patience – and the crowd need to as well.”