Scrap the fear factor in favour of X-factor…
0 Comments | Evening Times; Glasgow (UK), Sep 6, 2010
CAN it really be true? Can a national football team actually be scared of winning? Scotland were apprehensive when presented with the opportunity in Kaunas the other night which raises the issue that we may well be struck down with this very problem.
Depending on which way you view it, the 0-0 draw in Lithuania is being branded by some as a solid start, by others as a chance gone a- begging.
It’s the latter for me. Of the four away games in this quick- fire five-team section, the trip to the former Soviet satellite state was always second on the list in terms of places where points could be plundered. Liechtenstein top, the Czechs a distant hope and Spain not even a prayer, really.
So what was positive, or solid as it’s being tagged, about Friday? Sure, we looked like a team, fought like a team and played with the desire of a team that is under the right management again.
But we didn’t win. Bottom line. And we should have. Who else was screaming at the TV for Craig Levein to lob on James McFadden and Kris Boyd with half an hour to go and to instruct an all-out attack on the opposition?
No disrespect to the Lithuanians, but they were average – at best – and were there for the taking.
Instead of pitching up at Hampden against Liechtenstein tomorrow night looking for a maximum return, which would have set us up nicely for the double-header next month against the Czechs and the Spaniards, the best we can achieve is a tally of four points.
It would not be the end of the world, but is that what our outlook has become? Maybe it has, maybe many of us need to take a reality check if we are viewing teams like Lithuania as cannon- fodder.
But it can be a frustrating thing to watch when we stay tight and compact, continuing with this one up front tactic, when the evidence of the game is that what we are up against isn’t exactly great.
This 4-5-1 debate fascinates me. Sit in the company of Levein, or even Walter Smith for that matter, and they can often bristle when asked to explain why they use it, more often than not away from home.
The argument, and it does hold up in the main, is that no-one anywhere plays with two strikers in big matches and it doesn’t do the likes of Spain, Man United or Chelsea any harm.
Where it falls down is that these teams have outstanding options, goalscorers and pace that can be utilised to strike from the wide areas.
The midfield in these top sides provides support to, more often than not, a world-class striker as the spearhead. Our club sides, and our national team, have none of that.
It’s not difficult to understand why managers go with it when they know it’s a night for digging into the trenches, like Smith will do at Old Trafford a week tomorrow in the Champions League, and Levein will do in Prague.
Okay, maybe start that way in Kaunas, but the opposition offered very little threat. That was evident quite early in the game, and we should have opted for a more aggressive strategy.
Tomorrow, we’ll have two up top against Liechtenstein, a bit of trickery from the start no doubt in the shape of McFadden, and let’s hope we batter them and get the win the nation needs
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