GORDON Strachan last night insisted that opposition teams no longer fear Hampden - because Scotland aren't allowed to “kick lumps out of them”.
And the national manager has warned his players they will need to turn on the style when they take on Lithuania in a Russia 2018 qualifier there tonight in order to keep their supporters behind them.
Strachan, whose side won their first Group F match against Malta away in Ta’Qali last month, is hoping his team can beat their eastern European rivals and remain on top of their section.
However, he believes the visitors, who drew their opening qualifier against Slovenia 2-2 at home, will come and attack them and has told his players they will need to be good going forward to triumph.
“I’ll tell you what they feared coming to,” he said. “Here we used to kick lumps out of people. You could tackle from behind on a bad pitch. It’s different now. Football is different. The game has changed. You don’t get away with that now.
“It used to be that we only had a couple of games and reach a finals by beating Czechoslovakia in a play-off. You got the fans along, the big hitters went out and if there was anybody needed marked he got marked. It’s a different game altogether now.
“It has completely changed in 40 years. The rules have made it better for the great players. They are not up to their necks in mud with boys going out there allowed to have a free kick at them and injure them badly before someone else has a free kick at them.
“If you are a good player someone would have had six good kicks at him before anyone got a yellow card. But those six kicks could put you out of the game. You have to hurt teams in other ways.
“You can’t physically hurt them, so you out-think them, you outrun them and that way it’s different from the physical aspect of what happened years ago. One tackle now is a yellow card and you are wondering as a manager whether you keep the player on. That never happened years ago.
“The game changed brilliantly and now I think you are seeing a better all-round player at international level, more great players. Years ago you had four or five, now there are 20 or 30 top, top players because of the rule change. It’s helped the game.”
The Scotland match against Lithuania at Hampden is near sell-out, but Strachan feels his players will have to perform at their best if they are to remain behind them for the duration of the 90 minutes.
“It’s very hard for the fans to give something when it’s not there,” he said. “We have to give them things. They will be behind you right at the start, but they want enthusiasm, ability, shots, headers. That’s all a crowd want.
“Do they want passing from the back and rolling it about? No. They want shots, headers, crosses, tackles, good football and good passing.”
Strachan revealed that Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths has missed a couple of training sessions last week, but is available for selection for the game against Edgaras Jankauskas’s side tonight. Elsewhere, Gordon Greer, the Blackburn Rovers centre half, is a doubt after picking up a groin strain.
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