GORDON STRACHAN, the Scotland manager, insisted he was not considering his own position despite the national team slumping to a 3-0 defeat to Slovakia in Trnava that all but ends their chances of qualifying for the World Cup finals in Russia in two years’ time.
Two goals from Robert Mak and a header from Adam Nemec gave the home side their first victory of the group and, on the back of the 1-1 draw with Lithuania at Hampden on Saturday, leaves Scotland in fourth place in the table after three games. Their next match is against group leaders England at Wembley next month.
Strachan, though, would not be drawn on whether he intends to continue as manager, insisting his only thoughts following a disappointing night were for the welfare of the players and the fans.
“At this moment in time the people I feel sorry for are the players,” he said. “They’ve put so much work in over the last couple of games and got little reward. So they’re the ones I feel sorry for. They’re the ones I’m thinking of, they’re the ones I’m thinking about how I can protect them and send them back to their clubs feeling good about themselves. They can’t go back to their clubs feeling they could have tried any more. As a group I’m really proud of them.
“The second group I feel really sorry for are the supporters who came here tonight. You feel for them. So that’s what we’re thinking about just now. I’m not thinking about myself. I’m thinking about these lads. That’s the most important thing right now. That’s where my concentration lies.
“Every time I get together with these players they rejuvenate me. I repeat, at the moment we have given it our best shot, tried to pick the right side. Right now it’s how we look after them, how do we speak to them on the bus going back? I can’t get any more in terms of effort. I am happy with the response every time we get together.”
Strachan also felt that it was still possible for Scotland to take second place in the group, with seven games still to play including a daunting looking match away to England next.
“Yes, there is realistic hope,” he insisted. “Form can change. It is a long period. It is amazing how form can change in just two weeks. Players can come through. We are looking at [the game at Wembley] as another opportunity to get three points.
“Look at the table, we’d like to be better off. We are one point off a play-off place. It is a crazy group. The thing is to get back on the plane and send them away feeling better about themselves. Some of them come here feeling good about themselves. You are trying to send them back that way. I keep repeating, they don’t get paid for this. They come because they want to be here. When you get body blows like that it’s hard.”
Strachan felt the manner of the loss of the first goal – when Swedish referee Martin Strombergsson didn’t award a foul when Jan Durica took out Steven Fletcher right outside the Slovakian box – had derailed what had been a decent start from Scotland.
“I was pleased with a lot that went on in the first half,” added the manager. “The three in the middle of the park were excellent at keeping the ball and were finding room between the lines. We were sitting there thinking “we like this”.
And then the decision goes against it and at that point I thought it’s not fair on these guys as they are working so hard and doing so well. They were playing against a more physical side and were brave on the ball. So just when we needed a break, instead of the decision being on their side it goes against them. But they came back into it and didn’t let it affect them. They were still brave on the ball, still trying to make chances.
“At half-time we said to them, “just keep going”. Use the decision as power, the anger, whatever you want to call it, without being emotional, to do your best. I never saw the second goal but when it comes around at that point I felt that physically we were light on our feet, we were doing okay and looked fit. But then the second goal made a big difference.
“Slovakia went from being a bit laborious to being strong. And it was uphill after that. And you see the size of them and they scored the third from a set play. That was a problem for us in picking the team as we wanted to get a decent bit of height in the team and maybe put the smaller guys on later when the game was maybe still 0-0 and we could maybe go for the win at that point. But they kept plugging away trying to get a goal.”
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