Captain Andy insists players have to put their health before the country
Andy Robertson has made a staunch defence of the Scotland absentees targeted for criticism by discontented sections of the Tartan Army.
The national captain was one of a host of players who missed Thursday night’s loss to Kazakhstan.
Yet after re-joining the squad via a budget Ryanair flight in which he travelled incognito – or at least as best he could – among supporters heading for tonight’s game in San Marino, he was bullish in tackling the criticism head on as he declared himself fit and ready to face the European minnows.
“People are going to have a pop about myself, Callum Paterson, Ryan Fraser and others who pulled out altogether,” he said, of a group which also includes Steven Fletcher, Robert Snodgrass and, through his international retirement, Allan McGregor.
“People question whether we want to play for our country. But we are doing our best to do exactly that.
“The three of us have then gone Edinburgh to Bologna, then two hours down to the team hotel to play 24 hours later.
“You look at that and you can see there is no doubt we’re committed to it – we are desperate to play.
“I was devastated not to play on Thursday and Liverpool will back that up, because they had to step in and stop me going to Kazakhstan.
“Sometimes, the fact is that you need to think of your health.
“What use is it for Ryan Fraser to try and be a hero for one game then end up out for six months?
“It kills him, it kills Bournemouth, and it kills Scotland.
“For Ryan and Callum, it’s impossible to play on astroturf, they haven’t done it since they were 15 or 16 years old.
“And when Cal’s had such a bad knee injury in the past 18 months, it’s medically impossible to turn on that surface.”
“The team that went out should have been good enough to beat Kazakhstan in my opinion, but we weren’t at the races, simple as that.
“The fallout from it all is something we can’t control.
“To be honest, the mood was low when I got here. Walking into breakfast, there were a few lads who were scared to smile.
“But it’s not the end of the world, no matter how bad it feels right now.
“It’s up to us to pick ourselves up for this San Marino game, for the run-in to our club seasons and then to two crucial internationals in the summer.”
In fact, the Liverpool regular, who will win his 29th cap in the Stade Olimpico di Serravalle, reckons delaying joining up with the squad in order to recover from the effects of treatment for his abscess might have saved him from potentially severe heath issues.
“In a way, the pain I was in on the flight over to Italy was a good thing, because it told me how bad it would have been had I not had theop,”hesaid.
“The stitches would have been in danger with the cabin pressure.
“I’d been feeling it in our game away to Fulham at the weekend and hadn’t got much sleep on the Friday or the Saturday.
“I got through it with painkillers and two cans of Red Bull, but luckily we’d travelled down by train rather than in the air.
“Now, though, the mouth’s as good as it’s going to be.
“It was sore on the flight over to Bologna on Friday, which made me realise how bad it might have been had I’d done eight hours to Kazakhstan.
“I think I’d probably have tried to jump off the plane!
“Some people made it out to be a filling – it was definitely more than that!
“The thing is the tooth had to come out within 24 hours of them finding it, because if it had burst and gone into the bloodstream, it could have been nasty.
“I really wanted to be in Kazakhstan, but it just wasn’t possible.”