Darren Fletcher backs Craig Levein to stay

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Skipper Darren Fletcher hopes Craig Levein remains as manager despite Scotland's 2014 World Cup hopes all but coming to an end.

Levein has won only three times in 12 competitive matches, twice against Liechtenstein, but Manchester United midfielder Fletcher wants him to stay.

Asked if Levein still had a future with the team, he said: "I hope so, yes. I really hope so. The players believe in him and we hope so.

"Qualifying from this group now looks very difficult but we can still progress as a team." Asked if Scotland should have been more offensive against Belgium, Fletcher replied: "We tried to win the game. It was always going to be difficult. If we did that (attack) we would have lost five or six, trust me. If we keep it nil-nil we are always in the game. "The damage was done in the first games before we come out here (draws against Serbia and Macedonia)." Goalkeeper Allan McGregor, Scotland's best player on the night, claims the whole squad is behind Levein. He said: "You can look at records but you have to look at the opposition. We have played Spain twice and Belgium, really good teams. "I can speak for all of the boys, we are all behind him 100 percent. "It is going to be the same players so I don't know what is going to change and how dramatically it is going to change if someone else comes in." McGregor added: "I thought in the first-half we defended really well. Yes, they had a couple of chances but to go in 0-0 at half-time was all right. "We had a couple of chances ourselves, the goalie had a couple of saves. "It isn't great but until it is mathematically impossible I don't think you can say it is over. But obviously with the start we have had it is not going to be easy."

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Darren Fletcher backs Craig Levein to stay

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