Rough treatment is way to unsettle untried goalkeeper

Sports writer

Wednesday 31 August 2011

interview Scotland must exploit Czechs' inexperience at the back, writes Richard Wilson

Alan Rough wants Scotland to put the inexperienced Czech goalkeeper under pressure at Hampden, with Hamburg's Jaroslav Drobny, left, likely to start. The Czechs are without talisman Petr Cech, below, through injury. Picture: SNS

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Richard Wilson

Michal Bilek, the Czech manager, must feel as though injuries and form are conspiring against him ahead of Saturday’s visit to Hampden.

Cech is an iconic figure, so the whole team will be bereft while he recovers from a medial ligament strain suffered during a Chelsea training session. His understudies are unable to provide much optimism, with Drobny having made a series of high-profile mistakes this season for Hamburg.

Lastuvka has conceded 11 goals in FC Dnipro’s last six games, and is also uncapped at senior international level. The third option is Ales Hruska, the 25-year-old FK Pribam goalkeeper, who would also be making his Czech Republic debut if he was to play at Hampden.“The situation in Hamburg is not easy,” said Drobny. “We have conceded a lot of goals and I have made a few mistakes. Two of my mistakes costs us points. All three goalkeepers want to play against Scotland but whoever [does], the most important thing is that the team gets a good result.”Alan Rough was once a rookie international goalkeeper, and played his first away match for Scotland against Czechoslovakia in October 1976. He was playing for Partick Thistle at the time, and his previous match had been against Dumbarton, so Rough knew that he would be targeted as a weak link in the match, which the Scots lost 2-0.Rough believes Scotland need to take advantage of the Czech’s goalkeeping issue in the same way, with whichever player is selected likely to lack confidence and experience.‘If you are the number two or three goalkeeper, you know that you’re not going to be getting a game ahead of Cech,” he said. “So when you are thrown in, there is an added pressure to produce. It’s not the end of the world for them, but it’s hardly a positive. He won’t know the centre-halves in front of him.“I would love to get back to the old days when we really had a go at teams. I know you can’t do it all the time but, for 15 or 20 minutes out here, it was all blood and snotters. Get it into the box, let’s see what the goalie’s like. Make sure the first ball is on top of him and somebody is in there clattering him. I know it’s old hat, but it can work.”When Scotland played in Prague last year, earlier in the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, Craig Levein sent out his side in a 4-6-0 formation to try to contain their opponents. Scotland lost 1-0, and Rough believes that the Scotland manager will be more bold in his tactics for a game that will be pivotal in the race to finish second, taking the play-off spot behind Spain in Group I.“The thing about Prague was that with about 10 or 15 minutes to go, when we needed to get something, they looked absolutely horrendous at the back,” Rough said. “It was panic stations every time we threw the ball in and that’s what happens when you put teams under pressure. Craig has learned from that. We should have much more going forward. We have players who have the ability to break teams down. I would hate to think we’ll let them settle. We should get in about them right from the off.”

Alan Rough was speaking at the launch of the new Scotland National Teams iPhone App. Scotify yourself for only 69p and put your face to a host of Scotland international hairstyles and playing kits down the years. Search ‘Scotland National Teams’ in iTunes to download.

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Rough treatment is way to unsettle untried goalkeeper

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