GORDON Strachan has had one of those weeks when management feels like a breeze.

Before he put his Scotland squad through its first training session on Monday he had an idea of the 11 players who would start against Georgia at tea-time tonight, the first home qualifier of the Euro 2016 campaign. Through all the days that have passed since then, through all the work and all the potential for problems to rise and form to dip, there has been nothing to change his mind. The team he fancied five days ago was still the team he intended to pick last night.

This morning the players will be told who is in and who is out. They also will be told who will be their captain. Unusually the latter point is not a certainty because Darren Fletcher's position in the midfield is no longer certain. Fletcher has played only 25 minutes as a substitute for Manchester United since Scotland last played in Germany a month ago, having been one of those sidelined by all the heavy artillery wheeled into Old Trafford recently.

Fletcher did not play well in the 2-1 defeat in Dortmund, passing poorly and looking off the pace. If he starts the game at Ibrox tonight he will be captain again but there is a persuasive case for James Morrison to start alongside Scott Brown instead.

Brown was missing, injured, in Germany. It would pain Strachan to omit Fletcher. The 30-year-old's professionalism is exemplary and throughout his 63 international caps he has been Scotland's standard-bearer. But if Strachan privately believes Fletcher's form and match sharpness are not the equal of, say, Morrison's, he cannot pick him. Selecting players based on sentiment is weak management.

Strachan, it must be stressed, was giving no clues away one way or the other yesterday, he simply fielded questions on the general issues.

"I've been all over the place where people with great reputations have been told 'this isn't the game for you' or 'somebody is playing better than you'. But if you've got a reputation, you've built it up and worked at it. So that reputation must be respected.

"What you have done in the past definitely counts for how you are treated and how people look at you. And how the manager deals with you. It has to. [But] I don't think you pick a team based on reputations. That wouldn't be right. I would still be picking Kenny Miller if that was the case. I would still be picking people who played over the years. But, at this stage, you pick the team which is best for this game tomorrow."

"You never know when the right time is to tell people they are captain or that they are dropped. It's a thing, a debate, which has been going on since I've been in fitba'. When is the right time to tell a player? If you tell them too early they are disappointed. Do you tell them later? You have to get it right and different people take it different ways.

"I played for Scotland as captain and not as captain. It was not a problem. It's just about how you deal with it yourself. I was left out for over a year with Scotland under Andy Roxburgh and I then came back and ended up being captain. Andy is one of my best mates in football. I just thought 'I'm not playing well'. I could understand it."

When he became the national manager Strachan believed that he could not pick a player who was not appearing regularly for his club team. Alan Hutton changed his mind on that. The right-back remained a Scotland regular even while playing no club football at all for Aston Villa, such was his commitment and application in training.

That could work in Fletcher's favour too, but the decision will be taken on the needs of the team and the specifics of the challenge posed by Georgia. The visitors were defensive at home to the Republic of Ireland last month so they will not suddenly become cavalier at Ibrox today. They are expected to play 3-4-3 although the probable flow of play will often turn that into a 3-5-2.

Are Scotland better served by Morrison or Fletcher alongside Brown in a tight, congested midfield? Strachan may feel that Fletcher has spent all his United days playing in teams which take the game to a defensive opponent.

Scotland's back four picks itself and David Marshall is entitled to feel he has done enough to maintain his place in goal despite the growing claim made by Craig Gordon. Ikechi Anya, after that lovely goal in Germany, will surely start on the left with Steven Naismith in the hole behind Steven Fletcher in the centre and Barry Bannan on the right. Shaun Maloney will also expect to enjoy some game time, even if it is as a substitute. It will be a day when Scotland need pickpockets, can-openers and lock-breakers.

"I'm hoping we are going to make Georgia sit in," said Strachan. "There have been many times when a manager hasn't meant for his team to sit in but the other team have been so good that you are pinned back. Whether they sit in or not, we have to engage them and get the ball back then play with imagination. I've told the players to look at our goal [in Dortmund]. Did we plan that? No. Good players made that happen.

"I feel no different ahead of this game than I did before we played Germany. I do feel we can win the game, definitely, and I do feel when the football gods are against you, you can lose it. You have to accept that whatever plan or dream you have going to your bed at night, it never manifests itself that way on the Saturday. That's for sure."

In terms of arithmetic, this is not a must-win game. Group D is in its infancy and even third place in the section will secure a play-off place. But that is the cold-eyed, logical view. Any slip-up today would feel deeply damaging. Scotland need to deliver, and to begin building a successful campaign. Today will surely yield the first three points.