The international break is here.
The European championships in France 2016 was Scotland’s best chance to get to an international tournament since France 98.
Handed a tough group initially we were still full of optimism, as we normally are as a nation.
The first game against the world champions Germany filled us with confidence. A good performance but it all ended in disappointment as we lost which many thought we deserved a draw. But that’s football.
A draw in Poland is looking like a brilliant result now as they have been brilliant.
Winning at home to Republic of Ireland, Georgia and away to Gibraltar was expected.
The draw in Ireland was ok, not ideal but at least we never lost. Before this game I think we realised that we would have to settle for the 3rd place in the group and qualifying via the playoff route.
We lost against Georgia away and inevitably lost against Germany at home, albeit we put in a good performance again but couldn’t get anything from the game.
That being said, all focus should have been on winning the “winnable” games.
And how do you do that? Do you play the players that are available at the time and have the most caps? Or do you select the in form players at the time and give them a crack at representing their country?
For me, international football has to be, play the inform players. They are high in confidence and are eager to impress as to why the manager has put faith in them.
This has solely been written due to one position on the Scotland team sheet. That is the striker.
Gordon Strachan has continuously played Steven Fletcher. He shows nothing. Apart from being caught offside and scoring against Gibraltar. Now this isn’t just bad luck from Fletcher as his club form is also rank rotten. He lost the number 9 jersey at Sunderland so that shows that club no longer have faith in him. In his 4 seasons at the North East side he’s scored 20 goals. Need I say more?
Scotland do not have a plethora of talent like Spain or Germany do so surely it’s a no brainer, if the player is playing well for his club then play him at international level!
Obviously I am trying to say that Scotland’s number 9 without a doubt should be none other than our own number 9 Leigh Griffiths.
The wee man had a bad attitude when he was younger which had got him into trouble in the past. Since moving to Parkhead his reputation has increased as has his hair line.
He had 6 months in his first season at Parkhead and managed to get 7 goals in 14 games.
In his second season, he may have thought he had done enough to be the number one striker. Lennon left and Deila was brought in. Along with that Deila brought in another two strikers putting him further down the pecking order. This didn’t deter Griffiths though. He sat on the bench, bided his time and when given the chance he put the ball in the back of net. By Christmas he had managed to dislodge Guidetti as Celtic’s number one striker. At the end of the season he still managed to be our top scorer with 20 goals despite not being first pick all season. So it had taken Fletcher almost 4 times as long to get the same amount of goals as Griffiths? Now we have almost all been in this situation whilst playing FIFA or Football Manager. So you play the man in form? Right? Well this wasn’t enough to convince Strachan. Did it cost us in previous games? Very possibly. Griffiths gets a range of goals. Poaching, headers, set pieces. He’s a constant thorn in the side.
New season, new start possibly for Leigh? He gets given the number 9 jersey at Celtic so he’s sealed his spot as top dog at Celtic Park. Will Strachan take notice? No. Will Griffiths stop scoring? No.
Coming into the two most important games of the campaign, Strachan SURELY has to start Griffiths on Thursday against Poland. He is itching to go and is averaging about a goal a game this season. He will get chances and he will convert them.
So please Mr Strachan on behalf of the nation of Scotland, give Leigh Griffiths his chance.
He is the one deserving of it. Not Steven Fletcher.