ALEX McLeish last night admitted the trial period is over following Scotland’s end-of-season tour of Peru and Mexico and vowed to focus on securing qualification for the Euro 2020 finals in future.
McLeish’s men were subjected to a mauling in their friendly with Russia 2018 finalists Mexico in the Azteca Stadium on Sunday evening, but somehow managed only to end up getting beaten 1-0.
The 59-year-old, who handed no fewer than nine new players their first caps in South and Central America in the past fortnight, believes a trip that had been arranged before he was appointed has been worthwhile.
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But he stressed that he will look to field the strongest sides available to him going forward as he bids to end a wait to reach the finals of a major tournament that stretches all the way back to France ’98.
Scotland take on Belgium at Hampden in a friendly in September before getting the inaugural Nations League under with a match against Albania at the same venue a few days later.
McLeish, who has used 32 players and given 16 of them their caps since being appointed in February, admitted the time for experimentation has finished before he flew back to the United Kingdom from Mexico City yesterday.
“I had to do some different things,” he said. “We haven’t qualified for 20 years so I had to try something different.
“Gordon (his predecessor Strachan) was unlucky and we’ve looked at games over the last four or five years where our Achilles heel has always been one mistake.
“By and large the defence has played well. We have to get a bit of luck and we have to be more potent at the other end. We have to believe in ourselves in terms of the passing of the ball.”
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Several Scotland regulars were excused from travelling to Peru and Mexico at the request of their clubs and there were six call-offs from the original 24-man squad.
But McLeish, who made Scott McKenna his captain last night as the 21-year-old Aberdeen centre half won only his fourth cap, believes players have emerged on the tour who will feature going forward.
“Johnny Russell came into the game and had a smashing game on Saturday night,” he said. “And big Stephen O’Donnell, too. He’s had a meteoric rise.
“Lewis Stevenson did well and on Saturday night Graeme Shinnie was a bit of a warrior, as he has shown throughout his Aberdeen career. He can play in different positions and he stuck to the task really well.”
McLeish stressed he hadn’t ruled older players like Darren Fletcher, James McArthur and James Morrison, who haven’t featured under him since he took charge of Scotland for a second time, out of contention for a call-up.
“I wouldn’t say that they have no chance of playing,” he said. “I have been in dialogue with (James) McArthur over the last four months or so.
“McArthur is an integral part of the Scottish national team, he’s a great player, a Premier League player and he is playing at the top level.
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“At Crystal Palace at the end of the season McArthur was instrumental. But we had an agreement that he was playing with some pain and he wanted to get through that. McArthur is very big in my thoughts.
“Fletch and Morrison? I’m not ruling anybody out. I told Fletch that. I didn’t tell James because he has been injured anyway.”
McLeish also admitted that Oliver Burke, the West Brom forward who has scored for Scotland in wins over France and South Korea at the Toulon Tournament in France, was also in his thoughts.
“He has done well and scored a great goal on Saturday,” he said. “I saw it. Cracking.
“There’s other aspects to the game and I think Oli kind of lost his way a wee bit. But that performance in Toulon is going to enhance the big fella’s confidence.
“Of course, we would love pace like that as part of the Scotland project. But there’s other things other than pace. We will see if he has improved on these things.”
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