STEVE NAISMITH has launched a staunch defence of Gordon Strachan's record as Scotland manager and insisted the players were more to blame for the poor start made to their the World Cup campaign.

Strachan does retain a strong backing from his squad ahead of Friday's match with England at Wembley which could well be his last if his team lose, as that would make it all-but impossible to qualify for Russia 2012.

There is a seizable number of Scotland supporters who believe a change of manager is long overdue; however, Naismith dismissed this and made the point that it would be wrong to point the finger at just one man after the results against Lithuania and Slovakia when it is the players who have performed way below the levels anyone would have expected of them.

Read more: Steven Naismith admits Scotland's hard luck stories have left him feeling "crap"

"The squad are definitely behind the manager," said Naismith. "We know what he has done for a lot of the players, in terms of giving the younger boys a chance. In every game, the players are behind him but results haven’t gone our way.

"The manager is the guy at the top who takes the criticism. But we are as much to blame as he is, if not more. We believe in what he is doing and he is open-minded in terms of asking the senior boys for their opinion.

"It’s a collective thing. It’s not a case of the manager says this and he is to blame. There has been a lot more chat about the manager after the last couple of games, so it would be good to get a result for him – and everyone involved, to be honest."

Naismith is not stupid and knows a win for England is likely to make Strachan walk, not because of the opposition, but because of the five points dropped already, the draw at home to Lithuania and the humiliating 3-0 defeat in Slovakia.

Read more: Steven Naismith admits Scotland's hard luck stories have left him feeling "crap"

"I don’t think we can think about that," said Naismith when asked about the manager's future. "This is a massive game just because of the last couple of games.

"If we get a good result, then there is a feel-good factor. The fortunate thing for us is that the results in the other games have been decent for us so the group is really tight.

"If we had started this group like we did the last campaign, we would be in a comfortable position. But we’re not, we are in the mix. Everyone is in the mix.

"England found it tricky against Slovenia away. That was a tight game. Every match is going to be tough. We just need to make sure we start picking up results, rather than okay performances or good performances and not getting what we should from games."

The only big win worthy of that description Strachan has managed during his time with Scotland was the victory at Celtic Park over the Republic of Ireland given his team still had the chance to qualify for the European Championships.

Read more: Steven Naismith admits Scotland's hard luck stories have left him feeling "crap"

Naismith is desperate to repeat that night at Wembley and bring some life back into a qualifying campaign which is close to running its course after three games.

"You can say that if we get a result it can kick-start our campaign or things like that," said the Scotland man. "But as players, we just need to see it as another game that puts us on the right track to be where we want to be.

"For me personally, I think we were good enough to win both of the last games. That would have been great but it hasn’t happened. We now need to get our act together, put on a good performance on Friday and get a result."