STEVEN PRESSLEY believes all is not lost for Scotland as they look to get their faltering World Cup qualifying campaign back on track against Slovakia tomorrow night.
Pressley was the Scottish Football Association’s official delegate at the Slovaks’ match away to Slovenia on Saturday night and the former defender believes he learned enough from that performance to give Gordon Strachan encouragement following the disappointment of the weekend draw with Lithuania.
“There were things about Slovakia I saw that I believe we can exploit on Tuesday,” he said. "The difficulty with these fixtures is that there's very little turnaround time. I texted Gordon immediately after the game and I'll have a full briefing with him when I'm back in Scotland.
Read more: Chris Martin eager to silence the critics with Scottish victory in Slovakia
"The main thing that came out of the game was that Slovenia went to a back three rather than the system which has served them well over recent years. I don't know whether they'll continue with that when Martin Skrtel returns to their defence on Tuesday.
"They were missing four or five regulars and it wasn't a great performance in Ljubljana but people have to remember that they're a country who've achieved a lot of success over recent years. They didn't create many opportunities but they'll unquestionably be a different animal in front of their own supporters - Slovenia got a real lift from their fans even though there were only about 11,000 at the game. They'll be more aggressive than they were in Slovenia so seeing their players first-hand was undoubtedly a worthwhile exercise for me."
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