Ready to grasp thistle

consistent level and get where you want to be. That’s what I’ve done since my debut and kept trying to push myself to be better.”

For someone who still has a great deal of his playing career ahead of him, McGregor thinks like a coach.

He said: “Games on the television are regularly studied with an analytical brain, treating each viewing as a learning experience rather than merely background noise. I try and watch as much football as I can. The big Champions League games, you watch players in different positions and see how good they are. When you get a chance to see it live, you then realise how good some of the players are. I’ve always had a tactical idea in terms of watching football and trying to understand it.

“Just with the amount of games I’ve played and the amount of positions, you Graeme Shinnie has stressed that the Scotland squad are every bit as keen as the Tartan Army to get to Euro 2020.

The Scots have not qualified for the finals of a major tournament since the 1998 World Cup in France.

Alex McLeish’s side hit a speed bump as they took the route of the inaugural Nations League to the next European Championships, when they lost 2-1 to Israel in their last group game in Haifa to go three points behind the section leaders.

Scotland are preparing for the Albania tie tomorrow night which comes before the visit of Israel next Tuesday and the 27-year-old Aberdeen midfielder insists qualification is just as important to the players.

He said: “The squad is desperate to

start to realise what it takes to play in each position.

“For example, the controlling position, it’s not all about going forward and scoring goals.

“You are looking behind you and seeing what you qualify like the whole nation is and yes, we know the importance of it and we are all determined to do that as a squad.

“It is something that we are working hard for. It is never easy as has been shown over the last few years, it is never an easy thing to do but we are desperate to try to get.

“It is obviously in our own hands so it is up to us to go out and do the business.

“We have worked hard this week and everybody is looking forward to the game.

“There is pressure in many different ways and if you are a player and can’t deal with that then you probably shouldn’t be in football.

“We know that everyone in the squad can handle it – they prove it at club level – and it is about going out and proving it on the day.”

have to pick up as opposed to going forward and trying to score.

“Different positions require different attributes and I’m always watching a game to see what else I can do, how else can I help?”

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill said his side let down supporters with a poor performance in last night’s goalless draw against Northern Ireland.

The Republic were second best in the friendly in Dublin with keeper Darren Randolph ensuring they didn’t suffer defeat by denying Gavin Whyte and Jordan Jones.

“We didn’t do enough going forward and through a lot of sloppiness ourselves we nearly gave a couple of goals away,” O’Neill said.

“Randolph made a couple of good saves but certainly in terms of going forward we should do better.

“I’m not too worried about them putting on a performance for me, I’m the manager and it’s my responsibility so any bad passes made are eventually down to me, but overall it’s disappointing for our supporters. They’ve paid money and we should do better and be be able to create more.”

It was a similar story for Northern Ireland, who like the Republic have struggled in front of goal of late. Their problem has not been creating chances but converting them - a problem they appear no closer to solving.

“I thought we should have won the game,” manager Michael O’Neill said. “We did have to do some defending, but it was mainly set-pieces and free-kicks we gave away around the box.

“We have to commend Darren Randolph, he had a great night and made important saves at key moments in the game.”