PAIN RELIEF
Reaching Russia would heal the scars of Euro 2016 failure, admits Maloney
SHAUN MALONEY has revealed how the hope of leading a successful Scotland World Cup qualifying campaign is the only way to stop him being plagued by the flashbacks of Euro 2016 failure.
The Hull City forward yesterday hooked up with Gordon Strachan’s squad to prepare for Tuesday’s visit of Denmark before admitting the scale of his suffering for weeks after the effort to reach this summer’s finals in France ended in a fourth-place finish.
Maloney was one of the stars of the campaign for Scotland, scoring against Ireland, Poland and Gibraltar, but the 33-year-old’s contribution eventually counted for nothing as the Poles snatched a late 2-2 draw at Hampden and Republic of Ireland beat world champions Germany in Dublin.
Maloney will return to the national stadium for the first time since that dismal October evening when he ended up in the back of his own net following desperate attempts to stop Poland hitman Robert Lewandowski netting an equaliser.
And he cannot wait to begin a new campaign on a positive note and clinch a place at the 2018 World Cup Finals in Russia to go some way towards ridding himself of one of the most miserable memories of his career. After all, even tuning in to cheer on the Scottish rugby team against Australia in the quarterfinals of the World Cup brought all the horror hurtling back to mind.
‘It did hurt a lot and it is one of these things I found myself thinking about weeks later,’ said Maloney. ‘I watched the Ireland play-off and also the Rugby World Cup with our team when they were beaten in the last seconds. It just all came flooding back.
‘When we conceded that goal against Poland in the final seconds we didn’t know the Ireland score, but that one moment when that goal went in was just as bad as I had felt in a long time, perhaps ever. It was a really low moment for everyone watching, writing and playing. One of those moments that affected me for quite a few weeks after.
‘That night I didn’t sleep much and, with a news channel on repeat, that goal kept coming on. I was pretty close to it, I ended up in the back of the net with the goalscorer
AFTER starting just two of 10 matches in the doomed Euro 2016 qualifying effort, Darren Fletcher could be tempted to argue that his regular inclusion in the team should be the first of the minor ‘tweaks’ Gordon Strachan suggests are required to turn Scotland from outsiders this summer into 2018 World Cup Finals contestants.
The persuasive argument began on Thursday night with Fletcher playing as captain as the build-up to a new campaign commenced with a 1-0 victory over a Czech Republic team which reached France by winning their section.
However, the 32- year-old discovered that there was plenty of fine-tuning and correcting taking place all around him to fuel sufficient belief that improvements will not be hard to come by in the build-up to the resumption of competitive action in September.
Fletcher highlighted the introductions of Kenny McLean and Tony Watt for their debuts — and comebacks for the tireless Robert Snodgrass and Ross McCormack from injury and out-of-favour status — as sound reasons for positivity.
He admits he was invigorated by the injection of new, young talent to the dynamic within the camp, the training and the Prague friendly itself before making way for Scott Brown to skipper ‘ Squad Two’ against Denmark on Tuesday.
And, with the return of Snodgrass, Fletcher identifies a player in his peak years who showed, on his first international appearance since November 2013, some of what the previous campaign was missing.
A scorer of big Scotland goals both home and away to Croatia in the last World Cup campaign, serious injury prevented £6million Snodgrass from featuring in any Euro qualifiers.
If only it had been a ‘tweak’ to the 28-year-old’s knee rather than a dislocated kneecap on his Premier League debut for Hull City in August 2014, then the road to France might not have taken such a desperately disappointing deviation.
It wasn’t just the pink strips, it seems, that were loud during this first gathering of a new crusade.
‘We know Robert is a great player but he’s also a great character, a breath of fresh air,’ said Fletcher. ‘He brings a lot off the pitch because he is a joker, the kind who keeps everyone going and laughing. Sometimes you need that because international trips can be long and we have a few big characters.
‘I’ve really enjoyed being around him and all the young lads. It is refreshing. It makes you feel young. But most important with Robert is what he does on the pitch. The work rate he put in was fantastic. He must have covered every blade of grass. He performed fantastically. It was great to see him back.
‘He has been through a lot, but he has shown great determination. He gives us physicality. He held the ball up well, won free-kicks. You would miss every player with a bit of quality and he has that.
‘Clubs have paid a lot of money for that quality. Anyone would miss a player like that, a Premier League player. He is a threat and has scored some great goals. To get goals in international football is not easy and he has proved he can do it.’
As befits a veteran professional of his standing, Fletcher plays a key role in helping any newcomers settle into the squad environment — and it was intriguing to note Watt seated with him on the flight back from Prague.
There could be no better wing for Watt — who has had accusations over his application frequently directed at him — to be under than Fletcher’s fair guidance. Aberdeen’s McLean, meanwhile, started in an advanced role with McCormack and impressed Fletcher for an hour.
McCormack has only a dozen caps at the age of 29 but has always threatened to be an English topflight player. His showing against the Czechs hints that he can compete with Steven Fletcher and Steven Naismith to fill the attacking slots.
‘I thought they all settled in very well and showed real quality,’ said Fletcher. ‘The two younger lads, Kenny and Tony, have surprised me in that they have shown a high level of intelligence on the pitch. They both look bright for the future.
‘It was difficult for Kenny on his side, but he always showed for the ball and had nice touches. When Tony came on he worked really hard for the ball, held it up and showed really nice touches. He is a big strong boy and a good target man.
‘Ross did well. He held the ball up really well and obviously had a great assist. He clearly has goalscoring prowess and I thought he worked ever so hard closing down. So we were really happy with him, as we were with most of the lads who came into the squad and put in reallly good performances and, most importantly, worked hard for the team.
‘I think this is the most strength in depth we’ve had. If you look at my position, the competition is very strong and all through the squad we have lots of options. The manager has picked two squads. We don’t know how it will go on Tuesday, but it was important we did our job right in Prague and we managed to do that.
‘I thought we were very sharp, aggressive and passed the ball really well. When you get counter attacks going, all you need are two, three passes and all of a sudden the pitch opens up. We did it a couple of times and could have done it a couple of times more, but overall it was a very good performance.’
On the theme of keeping the good from Strachan’s first full campaign and weeding out the bad, Prague ticked the boxes for Fletcher who watched Allan McGregor produce four stunning first-half saves before the Scotland defence found a resolute streak that must be in place for the upcoming qualifiers after further trials against Denmark, Italy then France.
‘The friendlies are important as I didn’t think there was much wrong in the last campaign, but things do need tweaked because ultimately we didn’t qualify,’ said Fletcher.
‘We are not starting again, though. The continuity is there and the manager knows what the five or 10 per cent tweaks are to hopefully make the difference for us.
‘The game plan is the same, our play is the same. We just need to be more clinical and more well-oiled machine going forward. We need to do that in preparation for the World Cup. The manager has spoken about that to us. We did a lot of good things, scored a lot of good goals but maybe we conceded too many.
‘We got into good positions twice against Poland but didn’t hold on, so we have to work on those little aspects, fine tune and be that bit more resolute. Prague was a good example. We got 1-0 up and held on.
‘Sometimes it’s not pretty but sometimes you have to defend crosses, defend deep and be that bit more disciplined. Needs must — and that was a good starting point.
‘I have experienced it in Europe with Manchester United. We went to places like Russia and we had a game plan where we sucked them in and focused on hitting them on the counter. Away from home, you have to be a counter-attacking team.
‘The Czechs played high and left spaces for the counters. We looked our most dangerous on the counter with the pace we have in the wide areas. The goal sums it up, with Ikechi (Anya) a real danger for us to use.’
We’re not starting again, though... we just need to be more clinical