ALEX MCLEISH is a fighter. He was a fighter as a player and he is as a fighter as a manager and he won’t accept second best or give up on his ambition of taking Scotland to the European Championships.

The snipers are out for him in the aftermath of the defeats to Israel and Portugal over the last few days but Alex won't let that get to him. He has been there before and come through it and hopefully he can do it again.

The double-header with Albania and Israel now is huge. There is only one way to ease the pressure and that is to go and win the next two games and make sure that we finish top of this group.

We need to cut out the individual errors and there needs to be a bit of hope for the Tartan Army again. When it comes to the next game in Albania, we need a result and a performance so that we can fill Hampden for the Israel fixture and get over the line.

When Alex was Scotland manager the first time around, he had us up to 13th in the FIFA World Rankings. So it is not as if we have got a boss who is a bad manager, it is not as if we have got a manager that is not tactically aware and doesn’t know the game.

But, I have to say, I watched the Israel game and thought Scotland were as poor as they have been under Alex.

When we scored, we went to a back five and let Israel come back into the game and let them get a bit of confidence.

We gave up chances from corners and crosses and it could have been more so that was a real disappointment.

You then go into the friendly with Portugal on a real downer and it was played like a testimonial, really. There was no atmosphere, they didn’t have a full-strength team out.

Glasgow Times:
Lee McCulloch

Playing in front of less than 20,000 at a 50,000-seater stadium is no use. We should move these type of games to venues where we will fill the stands and create a bit of atmosphere.

When you do, the players get a spring in their step and you naturally get a better game and a better performance.

We have now lost friendlies to Belgium and Portugal in the last two international breaks and people are questioning why we even take matches like that.

When you play teams of that quality, you are never going to be expected to win them but they still count towards your record and the stats that are being used against the manager.

Is it worthwhile and more beneficial to not have a game and just use the extra days to train and work on things on the training park?

Alex has changed the system and gone with three at the back and then he reverted to a four for the game on Sunday.

I think it suits us, as a team, to have four at the back. But the problem then is how you get Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney in the team.

Do you play Tierney at right-back? He has done well there, but then I think Stephen O’Donnell has done well there as well.

I think Tierney is that good that you have to find a position for him in the team. So if it is two banks of four, you say to them that they are left-back and left-wing.

Not having Kieran Tierney in the Scotland team would be tragic, for me. You have to find some way of having him and Robertson and it might be a case of sitting them both down and saying ‘what do you think?’ and having that conversation.

They are two of our best players and if you want to be a successful team you have to play your best players. For me, those two have to play.

I know there has been a lot of debate and discussion over the way Alex sets the team out but one thing you have to say is that formations don’t win you games of football.

What wins you games is a desire and a will to win and doing the basics right first and foremost. So you win second balls, you defend your box properly and you take your chances.

Formations don’t come into it when a ball comes into the area and the defender loses his man and gives the striker a free header. That is not a tactical problem, that is just concentration from individuals.

When you look at the goals and the chances we have given up in the last two games, that is not formation. Again, that is individual errors.

It is easy to say that the manager is not the best and the formation isn’t right but I think a lot of what has happened over the last two games comes down to mistakes from players.

As soon as we can stamp them out, we will have a chance of finishing top of this group. So, it is not all doom and gloom.

We have still got a chance of finishing top of this section, and a very good chance at that. And that would then set us up to go into the play-offs.

You have to remember that we haven’t qualified for a major finals for 22 years. No matter who the manager is, it was always going to be a really difficult job to take Scotland back to that level.

You are on the back of more than two decades of failures at international level so I think we need to have a bit of perspective about where we are right now.

But that doesn't mean we stop trying to get better and improve. I know Alex McLeish certainly won't.