The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Eck insists nothing sinister in scary level of call-offs Scots absorb Tierney blow as he makes it nine to pull out
Alex McLeish insists there is “nothing sinister” about the “extraordinary” amount to call-offs from his Scotland squad for the Nations League double-header against Albania and Israel.
Celtic left back Kieran Tierney returned to the Parkhead club with a hamstring tightness yesterday to become the ninth withdrawal ahead of the Group C1 game in Shkoder tonight.
McLeish had to name his original squad without Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths and Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney due to fitness issues, while Crystal Palace’s James McArthur recently announced his retirement from international football.
Sheffield United’s John Fleck has been added to the squad for Tuesday’s game against Israel, who lead the Scots by three points at the top of the table.
Speaking at the Scotland team hotel in Tirana soon after arriving in Albania, McLeish addressed the call-offs, saying: “It is just something that is not in our control.
“It is a little bit of a freak. So it is not something sinister. If you are trying to find a story out of this there is nothing there.
“It is just bad luck, the boys have played to very high levels, they get pushed to the boundaries in training.
“They go to the red zone in training in certain moments and some of them pick up knocks and injuries and unfortunately for us we have had a lot of call-offs at the same time which is maybe extraordinary but there is nothing sinister in it, it is all genuine injuries.”
When asked if he was convinced that everyone who has pulled out wants to play for Scotland, the former Rangers manager said: “Yes. Kieran was bursting to play. John McGinn was bursting to play.
“As I said, there is nothing sinister, so you don’t need to ask that question.
“The amount of players calling off has disrupted the squad in general but in saying that we have prepared the whole week, we know what to do.
“Kieran was going to be in the team but we feel we have the players here to get us the results we need.
“Kieran Tierney was des- perate to play for us. His attitude was fantastic. But the medical from the doctor and physios decreed that he had to pull out.
“We have to respect what the physios and doctor say, that is why they are here.
“It is a pity to lose these guys but at the same time I have every confidence in the players that are on this trip.”
McLeish revealed that all the Celtic players in his squad who played for the Hoops on Livingston’s artificial surface on Sunday