ALEX McLeish last night called on his young Scotland team to prove they have the mental fortitude needed to win away from home in international football ahead of a Nations League game against Israel.
The national side, who beat Albania 2-0 in their first match at Hampden last month, can take a huge stride towards winning League C Group 1 and securing a Euro 2020 play-off place, with a victory in the Sammy Ofer Stadium here tonight.
But McLeish, set to field the likes of John McGinn and John Souttar once again in his starting line-up, knows his side will have to cope with difficult conditions and raise their games to a new level to get the desired result.
“It’s a big chance,” he said. “The other teams will be thinking they’ve got a great chance as well because we are bracketed at the same kind of level. But we know the rewards of this particular game.
“I watched Israel’s game against Northern Ireland. They did lose heavily, but they actually played some good stuff in the game. We are going to Israel, their territory, and we have to show we have got a pair.
“We have, of course, brought a lot of new faces in and a lot of youngsters. A lot of the older guard has left. There are some new kids on the block and we are looking for them to go one step further.
“We want to create our own tempo, for the boys to go away from home and express themselves because we need to get that evidence that we are going to be able to qualify for these major tournaments. By going away from home and giving a top level of performance.”
However, McLeish has warned his young charges they will be punished by Israel if they make as many errors as they did in the 4-0 defeat to Russia 2018 semi-finalists Belgium last month.
“Young players have to be allowed to make mistakes,” he said. “Unfortunately, at international level, and the level that we are trying to get ourselves back to, making mistakes is devastating.
“We saw that with the simple ones we made in the Belgium game. You don’t need to give a team like Belgium those chances. It’s getting the mentality to play, it’s getting the ability as young defenders to say: ‘Right, I can smell danger here, I’m going to be in the right position’. You have to be proactive.
“Guys like Naisy (Steven Naismith) and the older players in the squad can really encourage the younger ones to go and enjoy themselves.
“We want them to enjoy their football career. We don’t want them to be going away from home and thinking that the world is on their shoulders. They have got to go and express themselves and bring their individuality to the tactical side and the physical side. They have to bring their individual skills.”
McLeish has spoken to his Northern Ireland counterpart Michael O’Neill, who turned down the and his first team coach Austin MacPhee about Israel and is expecting, despite the 3-0 defeat they suffered in Belfast last month, a difficult evening.
He will make nullifying the threat posed by Moanes Dbour, who scored two goals for Salzburg against Celtic in the Europa League in Austria last week, and Tomer Hemed, the Queens Park Rangers forward, a priority.
“I spoke to Michael again last week and Austin as well,” he said. “We have had good collaboration.”
“Dabour and Hemed, who played for Brighton. They have a couple of midfielders who are interesting, very adept on the ball and two wing-backs with big engines who go up and down the pitch. We have a few people to try and keep quiet.”
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