Scotland will be playing it softly softly to get results before we go all out in attacking mode under Craig Levein
 Under Craig Brown Scotland may not have been spectacular but we did make it hard for teams to walk away with three points. New national manager Craig Levein is looking to return to those days so that Scotland making themselves hard to beat gives us the best chance of qualifying for EURO2012. Last Wednesday's game at Hampden against the Czech Republic saw Levein's reign start off with a dogged performance and a 1-0 friendly win. Despite the win, some pundits expressed concern about Levein's defensive tactics. But in stark contrast to predecessor George Burley, who repeatedly insisted Scotland possessed enough quality to outplay their opponents, Levein is adamant they must adopt a more pragmatic approach. He said: "We have got enough flair to cause people problems, but at this minute the emphasis has to be on the other end of it. You can't say we have these great players then throw them all in and hope for the best. There has to be a way of thinking, way of playing and the hope that, once we get confidence, these sort of players will be the ones that make the difference for us in games. But the confidence comes from winning games. We need to be hard to beat, dogged, determined. If that way can get us results, it gives us something to cling to; a common purpose. We can't have a system where it's, 'Right, we just need to get the ball to him and he'll beat four players and score'. Brazil maybe can do that, but we don't have enough flair for that to be our philosophy." Levein fielded Kenny Miller as the lone frontman on Wednesday night which some have used to be downbeat on the result. However, Levein had an answer to his critics. He said: "Everybody's got this thing about two up front. But look at the majority of international teams, Champions League sides, very few do. It is 4-2-3-1, 4-5-1 or 4-1-4-1. Man United play (Wayne) Rooney on his own. Even if (Dimitar) Berbatov plays, he drops off to pick up the ball. Even Kenny Miller and Kris Boyd this season, Boyd has dropped into far deeper positions than the past. The traditionalists think 4-4-2 is an attacking formation but the way the game has developed, even in that, as soon as a team loses the ball, the strikers turn and a player drops back in to the deepest positions. Those who do think they are 4-4-2 are 4-6 when they lose the ball. I feel, certainly to begin with, until we get a foothold, we must be hard to beat and that involves these other formations." |
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