GORDON STRACHAN has made it clear Leigh Griffiths faces a fight to force his way into the Scotland team – because he’s not big enough.
While the Scotland manager stopped short of saying the 40-goal Celtic striker had no chance of starting against England in the next qualifying match, he did admit to preferring more physical players in his side.
And that was why Chris Martin and Steven Fletcher were given the nod over last season’s Player of the Year for the games against Lithuania and Slovakia.
Asked if Griffiths would have to accept he would only be used as a substitute, the manager said: “No, I wouldn’t say that.
“In the 51 games in the Euro Championships the first 19 goals were scored from set-plays. That means you have to have a certain amount of height to defend corner kicks. I’ll give you an example. The team was a lot smaller at 2-0 than it was at 0-0 [in Slovakia] and the first corner kick we get after that, they score with a header. Does that help you with the certain amount of height that you have to have in my team? There’s absolutely no doubt about it.
“People can argue that toss and debate it. But that is fact. You need to have a certain amount of height in international football teams to defend set plays. It’s not just Leigh Griffiths. You’ve got to try and get the balance. I could pick a huge team but there would be a problem passing the ball.
“I could pick the smallest team and they could pass the ball better. But what we’ve struggled with is physical combat in the middle of the park and set plays. I’ve got to try and get a balance between height and strength and ability. If you’ve got the whole package then that’s a real bonus. Unfortunately we didn’t have too many with the whole package.”
Strachan will take charge of the match at Wembley next month and then what happens after that will depend almost entirely on whether Scotland can come away from London with any sort of positive result which would just about keep alive the hopes of reaching the Russian World Cup in 2018.
Strachan said: “At the moment I just think I am the best man to go down there with the group and get a result. I think I have explained it I have absolutely no fear of the sack and you all know that because life is good for me. I live in a good world. The only thing I want to do is make people happy.
“I am so lucky that I have done so much, all because I have had good people round me, and I want to bring the same to other people. There would be nothing better than if I could take this nation and the people who have supported us and the players, to a wee bit of recognition. That is all I am thinking of just now.”