GORDON Strachan has had second thoughts about making changes for tonight's Scotland-England game because so many of his first-choice side told him they were desperate to play.

Within minutes of beating Ireland in Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier, Strachan said he expected several changes for England's first game in Scotland for 15 years. Instead, the players' recovery and obvious appetite for the Auld Enemy friendly has forced him into a rethink.

Some changes will be necessary. Steven Fletcher is out with an ankle injury, David Marshall has a knock and Darren Fletcher missed training yesterday having not felt well, although he should be able to train before the game today. Chris Martin and Craig Gordon are expected to start at Parkhead. James Morrison has improved significantly and he is close to returning after missing the Ireland game through illness.

But Strachan's intention to make wholesale changes may now not be realised given the players' obvious enthusiasm. "I need to rethink my strategy I think," he said. "I had an idea of the team in my head a couple of days ago but the players that played the other night keep banging on that they are fit enough to play again. They're dropping hints everywhere I go. From the training today nobody wanted to be rested, that's for sure. I would say a wee bit of that is because it's a fixture against England.

"We're only human. If someone said to us we are playing some team that's 70-odd in the rankings we wouldn't be as excited around this table. We only want real, competitive games. This is a competitive game for different reasons, even if there are no points available."

"Scotland-England was the event of the season in my time but we never had a lot of live football on the telly back then. Now we have so many games that live football is on all the time. Take the English cup final, that used to be 'the' game. Or the Scottish Cup final. Now there are so many big games, and the Champions League, so it dilutes the interest. But this game still has an interest.

"You have to remember that the likes of Messi and Ronaldo, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, they're all playing 60-odd games a season. The top players' mindset is 'play, play, play' so then what you think is hard work is not hard work to them, it's the norm. If you want an easy life, go to a mediocre Championship club and you can get a nine-week break sometimes.

"If you want to be a top player get your mind around playing every week and dealing with that."

Scotland lost 3-2 at Wembley last August but have not hosted England since the Euro 2000 play-off at Hampden in 1999. Tonight's match is Scotland's final fixture of 2014, having won three and lost only one of their six so far.