Rosicky believes Scots are paying for striker-free tactics in Prague

The 30-year-old thinks the Scots are reaping what they sowed in the Synot Tip Arena in Prague 11 months ago when Levein fielded his infamous, striker-free 4-6-0 formation – and still lost 1-0.

Rosicky, as one would expect from a disciple of Arsene Wenger, holds no truck with that approach. “I believe that if you want to be in first place in the group or if you want to reach the play-offs then you must try to win on every occasion,” he said.

“Did you kill yourselves in Prague? That’s what I’m trying to say, maybe. I was definitely surprised by the way Scotland played that night. I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life and I have been a professional for 12 years. For a traditional football country like Scotland, that’s disappointing.

“That was strange because I’ve never seen a team which played without a striker. When we saw the team-sheet before kick-off we were very surprised.

“It could be that that night has come back to haunt Scotland. It might have been different if your team had attacked but I think we would have won anyway. We have now played Scotland three times in the last 18 months and we have been the better team in all three games.”

The Czechs could scarcely believe they went in at the interval a goal down after completely outplaying their hosts but Rosicky revealed that they resisted the temptation to press the panic button. “We wanted to stay calm,” he said. “We knew that if we passed the ball then we were technically better. This was a good game, played at pace, and I don’t think that we deserved to lose.

“I did not have a good view of the two late penalty decisions but Milan Baros told me he should have been awarded one in the first half.

“I wouldn’t say that we have secured second place just yet, but we are definitely much closer to it than Scotland are now.”