Strachan can take solace from year of positives

It WASN’T quite the “tanking” Gordon Strachan was understandably hesitant about accepting even though he was assured it would come with the guarantee of three points versus Republic of Ireland.
Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: GettyWayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: Getty
Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: Getty

This was a question put to him a fortnight ago when he named his squad ahead of two fixtures that, while both significant in their own right, included only one that truly mattered. Despite the rarity of such occasions over the last quarter of a century, it wasn’t the game versus England that everything hinged on.

Would he take a tanking against the Auld Enemy if it meant a victory against Ireland? Strachan shifted uncomfortably on his seat. He admitted he wasn’t so sure.

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But a 3-1 defeat, while straightforward for the visitors, was a long way from a humiliation for the hosts. Coupled with those precious three points against Ireland, this must be viewed as a productive return for Scotland. If this was the deal Strachan struck beforehand, perhaps while with hands clasped in silent prayer at the team’s base in Renfrewshire, it further confirms him as a canny operator.

Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: GettyWayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: Getty
Wayne Rooney, Darren Fletcher, Barry Bannan and Ross Barkley after the game. Picture: Getty

A defeat or even a draw against Ireland would have cast considerable gloom across those tasked with assessing Scotland’s international year, which drew to a close in disappointing, but hardly ruinous, manner on Tuesday.

Still, the sting of defeat by Scotland’s oldest rivals meant Strachan initially found it very difficult to view the positives. Standing where he was in a tight corridor at Celtic Park perhaps made it harder for him to see the bigger picture. But while he initially refused to accept the invite from the England supporters to “cheer up”, heard over and over again earlier in the evening, there was, he eventually acknowledged, much to be glad about.

Strachan will be back to his normal bubbly, positive self, he predicted, “in a couple of days”. By then, he said, he will have found the perspective required to view the year through an optimistic prism. There is plenty of solace available to him. “Maybe after a few days I’ll be able to look at it and think: ‘right, we’re getting together again in March [for a yet-to-be announced friendly and a qualifier against Gibraltar], we have seven points and hopefully we’ll get to ten and it’s game on again’,” he said.

Perhaps by then he can view England’s high-octane display as a compliment to Scotland. It is interesting that many journalists from south of the border on Tuesday wondered where the visitors’ performance had come from. It was hard to see how Roy Hodgson had inspired it, given his reluctance to become too embroiled in the narrative surrounding the fixture.

Pressed on Monday night, the likeable England manager managed to make a polite reference to 1967, when he remembered “Jimmy Baxter” running the show. The intensity seemed to come from those such as Wayne Rooney and England coach Gary Neville, who ripped Jack Wilshere’s earphones from his ears in the warm-up, and, like a latter day Noddy Holder, implored him to “feel the noize”.

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England were clearly up for the battle. What they handed Scotland was a reality check, perhaps a helpful one. (Not that Strachan agreed: “It’s never a good thing losing to England. Not a good thing at all,” he said).

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The quality of Shaun Maloney’s winning goal against Ireland possibly obscured the truth that it was a close game, one that could easily have gone either way. But the victory is what mattered. More importantly, Scotland have created a firm platform on which to mount phase two of Operation Qualify For Euro 2016. This time next year, it will all be over. The play-offs will have been completed.

Perhaps Scotland will have been involved. Perhaps not. Perhaps they will already have qualified by dint of finishing first or second, or maybe by boasting the best record of all the third-placed teams – which Scotland currently have, incidentally. Perhaps, god forbid, they will have slipped into fourth or even fifth place, and we are wondering where it all went wrong.

So in 12 months’ time, Scotland and Strachan will know if the return from their four qualifiers in 2014 proved a good springboard from which to reach France.

As Strachan said on Friday night, the significance of the result against Ireland will become clear “sometime in the future”. It is not possible to judge what it means now. But the international year just finished can be examined. It started as the previous year ended – with a 1-0 away win courtesy of a strike by Scott Brown, against Poland this time rather than Norway. Scotland have scored in every game they have played this calendar year – something they had not managed since 1975. In total, they have struck nine times, helped by own goals against Nigeria and, most critically of all, against Georgia.

It was after this game at Ibrox that Strachan said he was “blown away” by the performance. It was hard to get so excited about Tuesday, he accepted. “I tend only to enjoy football when I’m winning and things are going well,” Strachan said. Things have been going well, for the most part. Ikechi Anya has continued to improve, Steven Fletcher’s credentials as Scotland’s principal striker have been enhanced. Craig Gordon’s return in goals against England, meanwhile, simply increases the embarrassment of riches Scotland can claim to have in this position.

Centre-half, however, remains a problem, while Darren Fletcher’s position at Manchester United has to be resolved in order for him to return to the role of on-field international skipper. Chris Martin’s struggles on Tuesday casts doubt over his future involvement and means the search is still on for a suitable auxiliary striker.

“I think you could put a few people into the same shoes,” said Strachan on the subject of Martin, who he’d been so keen to assimilate into the team.

“I think there were a good few people who’d say they weren’t at their best. It’s very hard to pick out one individual.”

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But these are questions for Strachan to tackle over the coming weeks and months, along with such housekeeping issues as the search for a new Under-21 manager.

More immediately, Strachan can return home to England with his head held high, however much he was hurt by Tuesday.

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