Two-striker experiment but Craig Levein is still cautious

By Andrew Smith in Limassol
Published on 11/11/2011 12:29

CRAIG Levein is contemplating fielding two strikers at some point in tonight’s friendly in Cyprus to determine if there might be mileage in switching from his usual 4-1-4-1 formation in future.

But the Scotland manager will not do so if he feels that any change might prejudice his side’s ability to secure a victory in Larnaca against the world’s 120th-ranked side.

Levein said yesterday that a win this evening must be prioritised above all, to ensure that Scotland go into the turn-of-year three-month lay-off keeping “everything moving forward”.

The Scots will start in their “normal manner”, with Kenny Miller up front on his own but, if “all is well”, the intention is for Craig Mackail-Smith to be brought on at the interval to join Miller before the 31-year-old makes way for debutant Jordan Rhodes in the final half hour.

“It has taken me a long time to get a system that everyone understands,” Levein said. “What I would like is to experiment a bit and find out if there are situations where we can change things a bit. We’d also have to look at the type of midfield players if we are playing a four instead of a five. But we could start the game, get three injuries and then everything is up in the air. We’ll have to wait and see.

“I want to win first and foremost. I won’t do something that could put that at risk. Winning is really important in terms of momentum. If we don’t win, it leaves everyone open to criticism. No matter what the ideas might be behind the experiment, if you don’t win, there is criticism and that is a negative. If we want to keep improving, we have to try to keep the positivity.

“In Scotland, it’s either feast or famine. If you win, everything’s great. If you lose, everyone gets slaughtered. There are very few Scotland international matches and I have learned very quickly that each one is vitally important. Because of that, my first thought is to win. Everything else comes after that.”

A year ago, a win over the Faroes was a positive before the break in games over the winter and Levein added: “It was the first time we’d introduced some players. A little bit of hope came from that. At a club, you can have a poor game but then put it right a week later and everyone is back on side. With international football, November to February is a long time to be sitting on a defeat. But we could play very well and still lose. What I don’t want to do is lose sight of the fact that winning is what it’s all about.”

Levein is keen to introduce some of the untried players in his squad. Into that bracket come Blackpool goalkeeper Matt Gilks, Hearts’ Ryan Stevenson and MK Dons defender Gary Mackenzie, as well as Huddersfield’s Rhodes, the 21-year-old who will join up with Billy Stark’s under-21 side for their European Championship qualifier away to Holland on Monday. He has trained “very, very well” this week, according to Levein.

“He’s a lovely boy, he honestly is,” the Scotland manager said. “He’s very respectful and well mannered. I’ve been pleased with him, as I have with Ryan and Gary. My impressions so far have been very favourable.”

Levein also has favourable impressions of Cyprus, although they were one of only four teams in Euro 2012 qualifying not to get a win. But the scene of one of their two draws – they lost their other six games – tells the Scotland manager they possess a real threat.

He said: “Technically they’re very good. They are much more of an attacking team than defensive. They drew 4-4 in Portugal in Euro 2012. There aren’t many teams who go to Portugal and score four. Plenty go there and concede four but not many score four. They’re very attack- minded. They do go forward and try to score goals. Their game is not based solely on being a team who come and shut up shop and make themselves hard to beat.”

Meanwhile, Scotland have enjoyed a sunny and warm environment in their week being put through their paces in Cyprus that, in the opinion of their manager, they could not have bettered.

“Training has been excellent,” Levein said. “The facilities are brilliant, the hotel’s great. The idea of coming over here was to get time on the training ground. We’ll have six training sessions, in all. We would have struggled back home to get the conditions to allow us to spend longer on the training ground. We did some back four work yesterday. It was great to be able to do the work and then be able to stand and talk about it without players tightening up. We could have discussions about things that have happened and then go again.

“The idea of the week was to give us more time on the training ground, more time with the players. The week is something that has allowed us to do that and, at the same time, give us the chance to have a look at one or two of the new guys.”