Alex McLeish has vowed to keep trying to make amends for Scotland’s shock defeat in Kazakhstan and believes there will be twists and turns in their Euro 2020 qualifying group.
McLeish and his players have come under fire after a 3-0 loss against the world’s 117th-ranked team in their opening Group I game. Scotland have only once reached a major tournament after losing their opening qualifier, when they recovered from defeat to Czechoslovakia, the then European champions, to make it to the 1978 World Cup.
Nations League success has earned Scotland a guaranteed play-off place should they fail to finish in the top two of a group also containing Belgium, Russia, Cyprus and San Marino, who host Scotland on Sunday. But McLeish is determined to make it up to the supporters bit by bit and not wait until next March’s play-offs.
“The only apology we can give the fans is to go out and win the next game,” he said. “We are all hurting. We’re fans as well. I followed the team as a young man and I was always proud to wear the jersey. And these guys are as well.
“They don’t mean to play badly. They don’t mean to have one off-night. We just have to concentrate on winning the next game and if we can do that, we try and win the game after that.
“It’s the first game. We know it’s hugely disappointing for the Scottish nation and we are gutted as well. We have to believe the group stage is going to have twists and turns. We know there’s a clear favourite but we think there will be blips along the way.”
McLeish has Andy Robertson, Callum Paterson and Ryan Fraser available after they missed the Kazakhstan game – the Liverpool left-back with a dental problem and the latter two because of an agreement that they would not play on the artificial pitch in Astana.
When asked whether he would expect to still be in his position if Scotland did not beat San Marino, he said: “I don’t deal with speculative issues and speculative questions. We just prepare the very best with the squad we have and we look to the guys to perform to their top level.”