Scotland hoping versatility will kick-start Euro 2020 campaign
As Scotland begin to plan for their opening Euro 2020 qualifiers – the double header away to Kazakhstan and San Marino next month – they will rely on versatility to see them through. James McFadden, the Scots’ assistant coach, emphasised the point when looking ahead to a potentially hazardous week-long trip, but one that could also generate momentum for a group campaign which will also include games against Cyprus, Russia and Belgium, who are currently ranked as the best team in the world.
“The way we set up in the last games if we were attacking, we were 4-3-3, if we were defending, we were 4-5-1 - and that’s the way it’s got to be. We’ve got to have flexibility,” McFadden said.
“Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor - they’ve all played different positions within defensive and attacking transitions. That is what we did so well against Albania and Israel.
“It didn’t go to plan against Israel at home, at the start, but the players made forward runs, not just for the sake of it, but ones that made a difference: Ryan Christie making a great run forward to help set up James Forrest for the goal.
“At the same time, they had to run back on two midfielders who just wanted to push forward all the time - they had to do the shift all the way back. And we need guys that are going to do everything. We’ve certainly got players that can do that and we’ve a lot of talent coming through as well.”
With so much riding on a switching strategy, much depends on the effectiveness of wide men like Ryan Fraser of Bournemouth and Celtic’s Forrest. Indeed, when Scotland were beaten 4-0 by Belgium in a friendly at Hampden Park in September, Fraser was allotted the unenviable task of marking Eden Hazard.
Hazard scored the Belgians’ third goal when he showed the ball to Fraser, switched feet and launched a drive over Craig Gordon’s head. “It is a tough gig but when you are up against Belgium, even if you are playing wide you need to get back and track the full-back,” said McFadden, who rated it as a necessary learning experience for Fraser.
“When we watched him at Bournemouth, he was wing-back against Peter Crouch. They couldn’t be more different but it didn’t faze Ryan. We knew his quality, we knew what he could do. He has got good urgency, he has got great habits and we knew that he could be a threat. Alex McLeish tried him at wing back and he has done well.”
Forrest, too, has evolved from being a winger whose principal task was to beat his opponent and deliver crosses into the box. Ball retention has become a notable feature of Forrest’s game and has added greatly to his effectiveness.
“That comes with experience,” McFadden said. “When you are younger, you want to get on the half turn, run forward and take people on – I did anyway – but it is not always the best option.
“His maturity is there for all to see. Certainly, in the last six months, he has been getting into the box a lot more. When you are playing as a wide man you don’t always need to touch the ball to affect the game. He does look after it.
“If you make good movements and get into the box, your first touch is your last touch and it’s a goal. You don’t always have to take people on. So, his intelligence to play the position is there for all to see and we are getting the benefit of that.”
“We’ve a tough opener in Kazakhstan and we have to deal with that first, but the preparations will be the same for both games. We’ll have a structure with a defensive unit to allow us to attack, because we have attacking players.
“We’ve watched a wee bit of Kazakhstan and, really, you don’t know what you are going to get until you get there. They are at home and they might attack us and we’ll need to deal with that, but they might sit in and make sure they don’t get off to a bad start. From what we have seen of our players, they know how to solve the problem.”
