TO borrow an old expression, Scotland’s defence for too long was incapable of keeping weans out a close.
As they have conceded goals to Malta, Lithuania, Canada and, going back a bit, Gibraltar, plus just about everyone else, any criticism of such a creaking back four was far from unjustified.
And then on Sunday night, albeit against what turned out to be a rather disappointing Slovenia side, Scotland with a left-back playing on the right and Charlie Mulgrew who is more a midfielder in the centre, they actually kept a clean sheet.
Much of this was down to Mulgrew, now at Blackburn Rovers, who has never let down his country no matter where he’s been asked to play and against Slovenia was one of the best performers.
Now 31, the former Celtic man surely has to be one of the first names on Gordon Strachan’s team-sheet for the England game. Right here and now, Mulgrew is Scotland’s best defender whose calmness and confidence was a big say in Russell Martin having his best game for some time.
“Hopefully,” was Mulgrew’s response to whether at least some of the flack aimed at the defence had been answered at the weekend. “To be honest, I don’t pay much attention to the speculation and talk about that kind of stuff. I just try and do a job whenever I am picked to play.
“I was aware I would be playing centre-half and my job was to keep things tight and hopefully play a wee bit from the back. We got the 1-0 result and can move onto the next game.
“We protected Craig (Gordon) pretty well but that starts from the front. It’s not just about the back couple of players. A lot of people speak about the central defenders and how we need dominant players in there but it is a whole team game. We defend and attack as a team. We defend from the front and we play from the back. That’s what we did.”
Mulgrew and Martin are no Miller and McLeish; however, the current two fed off each other and while England will bring far more danger come June, this should be Scotland’s defence that day with Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney either side.
“Russell and I have a good understanding,” said Mulgrew. “We have played a few times together and I think we understand each other’s games. I suppose there is a good partnership there but we will move onto the next match and approach it in whatever way the manager sees fit.
“Hopefully it can set us up for the rest of the group. We have won one game but now we have to move on to the next one. England is a very different game and we will approach it in the right way.
“All the qualifiers are massive, but this victory makes the England match a better game. When that comes around we will be 100 per cent focused on it.
“Whether I am playing for my club or my country, I need to go into each game 100 per cent focused. I love playing for my country and my club. It’s good that both are going reasonably well at the moment.”
Someone else doing reasonably well is Mulgrew’s former Celtic team-mate Stuart Armstrong who carried his club form into a Scotland debut that will be long remembered.
“Stuart was different class,” said Mulgrew. “He took the ball in areas and took the pressure off of us at the back. As I say, we defend we defend from the front, but Stuart made our job easier by holding on to the ball at crucial times, by taking chances and being brave.
“We like the manager and love everything he does,” he said. “He is a top, top manager. It is up to us to win the games on the park.”
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