Charlie Adam vows to take lessons learned from Brazil into Euro 2012 qualifiers

Published on Sunday 27 March 2011 19:55

Charlie Adam has vowed to learn the lessons from Scotland's comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Brazil in time for the resumption of their European Championship qualifying campaign.

Craig Levein's men were completely outplayed at the Emirates Stadium by the five-time world champions, with the highly rated Adam a big disappointment playing in a deep-lying midfield role. While Adam had an off-day, 19-year-old Neymar stole the show with both goals for Brazil, although his match-winning role was overshadowed by a post-match claim that he was the target of racist abuse from Scotland fans - an accusation strongly refuted by the Scottish Football Association.

Blackpool midfielder Adam is coveted by Liverpool and Tottenham and has even been linked with Manchester United but he looked out of his depth yesterday. Despite the often painfully obvious gulf in ability between the sides, the 25-year-old claimed that the match was a worthwhile exercise ahead of Scotland's final three Euro 2012 qualifiers in September and October.

"It was a valuable experience for us," said Adam, whose next, considerably less demanding, assignment for his country is set to be May's Carling Nations Cup matches against Wales and the Republic of Ireland. "It'll stand us in good stead for the qualifiers and the two games we've got at the end of the season."

Comparing Brazil to Spain, he added: "They've got some of the best players in the world, like Spain. It's great to be part of it, playing against these sides. The results in our past couple of games (friendly wins against the Faroe Islands and Northern Ireland] have been good and we'll learn from today."

Scotland were penned in for most of the first half, leaving lone striker Kenny Miller completely isolated, but Adam said that was not a deliberate ploy.

"Teams like Brazil make you do that," he said. "You've got to be wary in behind."

Adam tried to relieve the pressure with long balls from what was an unfamiliar deep-lying midfield position, but it proved futile.

"I enjoy playing there but sometimes I like to get further up the pitch and try to get efforts on goal," said Adam, who was given a less restricted role by Levein in the second half. "We had to try to get up the pitch a wee bit more."

Adam picked up a knee knock in the second half but says he hopes to be fit for Blackpool's crucial Barclays Premier League game at Fulham next Sunday. "I just got a whack on it as I went to make a tackle," he said. "But I'll be all right and hopefully be ready for the weekend."

Levein said that Adam's disappointment at the way Brazil strolled past the Scots was perhaps greater than most of his team-mates' .

"The lads are disappointed," he said. "But Charlie Adam in particular is disappointed in the way he played. I said to Charlie that it just shows him where he has come from in the last year or so.

"There were some people this morning talking about Charlie being as good as anyone on the pitch and that is the level of performance he is expected to put in these days.

"He recognises that and it was refreshing to hear him say he felt he could have played a lot better."

Brazil coach Mano Menezes was diplomacy personified when asked if any of the Scottish players had impressed him. "Scotland does not depend on individuals, it is a collective work," he said. "They had players missing like Darren Fletcher, who is important for them."