STEVEN Naismith believes that Scotland will go into their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with genuine confidence regardless of the countries they are drawn against.
The groups will be drawn in Nice on February 23, with the finals in France swelling to 24 finalists for the first time. The qualification procedure is expected to involve nine groups: eight with six countries and one with five (there will be 53 participating countries, including Gibraltar). The top two from each group and the team which had the best record of those that finished third will qualify automatically with the eight other third-place countries going into play-offs. Four will qualify from those and, with the hosts, make up the 24 finalists.
Scotland are expected to be in pot four and will hope the seedings prove deceptive. Belgium were ranked behind Croatia and Serbia in the World Cup campaign yet won the group. Scotland are not in that class but will hope a favourable draw would mean they could finish in the top two.
Naismith said the recent form justified the confidence among Gordon Strachan's players. "We've beaten Croatia home and away, the top seeds in our last group," said the Everton forward. "We have to believe that we can compete against anyone, go away from home and pick up wins, then hopefully win at home. It's encouraging that we know we can face most teams and think we can get a result. This is the most confident I've ever been with a squad pushing on and getting to a finals.
"After the performance against Norway, we have to look at winning the ball back [more effectively] and then killing the opposition's attacks. We have to knock the ball about, make them retreat, then start our own attacks. That maybe didn't happen [in Tuesday's 1-0 win]. We have to get to a stage that when we are ahead in a game we dictate the play and the tempo of the match. We can't sit back and hope we don't concede. The manager will work on this and also sharpening up our play in the final third.
"But we now believe that in an away game we're not holding on for a draw. We are set up to believe that we can go out and keep a clean sheet but we can also have moves going forward that can win us a match. That's how we have to look at things coming up to the Euro qualifiers.
"The manager has maybe changed the mentality from defending and trying not to lose a goal, to going out to express yourself and have the confidence to go and play. That's the biggest change that I've noticed. Then our players who are really good on the ball and can see passes can flourish. We rode our luck against Norway but you could also point to good defending and organisation and that's what the manager has worked on. When he didn't like the way we were playing he changed the system during the game and the boys are all buying into it."
Naismith praised David Marshall - Scotland's best performer in Molde - and said the goalkeeper's form meant there is now competition for Allan McGregor in the national team. Team-mate Russell Martin echoed that view and dismissed the criticism of Scottish goalkeepers in a section of the English media, bizarrely promoted by the selection of Celtic's Fraser Forster for England's friendly against Chile.
"I read about that with Fraser Forster," said Norwich defender Martin. "But I played with Fraser and for me he is one of the best keepers in Britain. That's regardless of whether he plays in the Scottish Premiership, the English Premier League or abroad: he is just a top, top keeper. Marsh is the same and he's proved that down the road. Also, 'Greegs' has been in great form so I don't see where this criticism of Scottish goalkeepers comes from.
"I think Marsh has given the manager a decision to make. He's probably not got as many caps as he deserves because 'Greegs' has been on top of his game for a long time and he is a fantastic keeper. But Marsh has come in against the USA and Norway and he's done really great. I'm so pleased for him because he's a good lad."
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