GORDON Strachan has stressed that Callum McGregor missed out on a call-up to the Scot-land squad for the Russia 2018 qualifiers against Lithuania and Malta next month due to the strength in depth he has in midfield.
McGregor has once again been overlooked by Strachan for the vital Group F double header despite featuring regularly and performing well for Celtic both domestically and in Europe this season.
No fewer than six of his Parkhead team mates – Craig Gordon, Kieran Tierney, Stuart Arm-strong, Scott Brown, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths – have been included in the 27 man pool for the games in the LFF Stadium in Vilnius on Friday week and at Hampden three days later.
But the omission of McGregor, who enjoyed an outstanding campaign as Brendan Rodgers’s side won the treble last season, is a surprise given that James Morrison of West Brom, who has been out injured, has not been included.
Strachan, whose side is in fourth place in their section with just four qualifiers remaining, acknowledged the 24-year-old had been enjoying a rich vein of form for Celtic, but stressed he was well placed for players in his position.
“I understand that he’s playing well, but there’s a lot of midfield players out there that I could say the same about,” he said. “I could say the same about Shinnie (Aberdeen captain Graeme). I’m not going to sit here and apologise to every person who’s not in the squad.
“I got left out for more than a year with Scotland, but I looked at the squad and thought: ‘They’re no’ bad – and I’m not playing’. As I say, there are other guys playing well at the moment. We’re really strong in that area so I’ve got to pick who I think is right for this game.”
Meanwhile, Strachan has predicted the artificial playing surface in the LFF Stadium will not present any problems for Scotland, who have arranged to train on a similar pitch next week in the build-up to the Lithuania game.
“We’ve had to go and find training facilities that replicate what they’ve got,” he said. “People tend to think ‘it’s an astroturf’, but there are all different kinds of them. I think we’ve got a really good one where we can train.
“The good thing is the Scottish based lads play on astroturf every now and again. That’s handy.”
The 60-year-old, meanwhile, has revealed that his side will go on the offensive against opponents who held them to a 1-1 draw the last time they met at Hampden back in October.
“We’ve got to try and win both games,” he said. “That’s how we’ll set out. We always do. We said that before Germany away a few years back and put in a magnificent performance. At Wembley, even though we got beat 3-0, we set out to win the game.
‘I don’t think we’ve got the physical capabilities to sit back and take long periods of pressure. We have problems soaking up pressure for long periods against teams with a big physical presence.”
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