JOHN McGinn will take to the Hampden pitch tonight hoping to move on from a friendly defeat to Belgium which he describes as the lowest point of his career to date. The Aston Villa midfielder, culpable for squandering possession to the high press of Moussa Dembele in the lead-up to Romelu Lukaku’s opening goal during the 4-0 defeat, was honest enough to admit that Roberto Martinez’s team administered a “football lesson” for the entire Scotland team.
While, with the benefit of hindsight, he admits that he might not have been quite so keen to take the ball from Craig Gordon in that position again, McGinn is desperate to atone for the mistake against Albania tonight.
“Friday night was probably the lowest I have felt in a Scotland jersey,” said the 23-year-old, who typically refused to crumble after the early mistake. “It was a footballing lesson for all of us.
“We have a group that is trying to gel and improve but we were up against the second or third best team in the world and it showed,” he added. “We need to realise how far we’ve got to go to get anywhere near that kind of level.
“You have professional pride. You can try and dress it up and say they are the second or third best team in the world but at the same time you don’t want to be beaten by that margin off anyone. We want to be competing with these teams and making it difficult for them in the way that Scotland have in the past.
“So it’s good we have another game to use that drive and hunger to go and improve. That’s all I want to do. I want it out of my system. I will try not to dwell on it too much and, hopefully we can show what we have been working on and can get a positive result. That’s the way I have dealt with things my whole career.”
While Albania may not punish mistakes as ruthlessly as Roberto Martinez’s team were able to, they nonetheless boast a team which is stuffed with Serie-A based players who graced Euro 2016 in France and stand only 18 spots behind us in the world rankings. They are the early leaders in this Uefa Nations League group after claiming a 1-0 win against Israel on the opening match day.
“Myself and a couple of others made some mistakes on Friday night but it is difficult when a team like that is closing down all the space and making it so hard for you,” said McGinn. “It is just a learning curve. Next time, I maybe won’t take the ball in that position. But that is the way we want to play and the way we are planning to play moving forward. So hopefully on Monday night when we have more of the possession we can make it show.”
Where McGinn got a close view of the abilities of Eden Hazard on Friday night - the little magician dragging him this way and that - Scotland will hope to get much of the ball against the Albanians and make them do some of the chasing. With just one goal in five friendlies thus far under Alex McLeish, goals have been hard to come by.
“With all due respect, the way we are going to play means we are going to have more of the possession,” said McGinn. “ut that doesn’t mean it is going to be easy to get a result. These games are very difficult and everyone knows that.
“Teams will sit in and try to counter on us so we have to use the ball better - be brave and confident. Hopefully, it shows on Monday. We know how important the Nations League is as it gives us another avenue to try to qualify and we have to take every chance we’ve got.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here