Scotland’s 4-6-0 formation is simply not acceptable

I wrote recently about the negative, anti-football, that Rangers played in their Champions League 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. I felt that although credit could be given for the formulation of a game plan, the organisation of the team, the discipline of the players and the end result, what we were actually forced to witness was a kind of football that nobody in their right mind would part with hard earned cash to watch.

Negative

I thought that was just about as bad as negative football could get until Scotland played their European qualifier in the Czech Republic last week.

I have never before actually heard of a team literally playing with no forwards! When I read that Scotland played a 4-6-0 formation I assumed that the journalists were exaggerating for effect. It seems, however, that they weren’t. Scotland genuinely did play that formation.

Glories

Let us not forget, this is not the Czech Republic of past glories, this is the Czech Republic who were beaten by Lithuania in their opening game. Yet Craig Levein, like Walter Smith of Rangers before him, seems to feel that a 0-0 draw is the best result his side can possibly achieve. That may be true, but it is no way to play the game.

Scotland defender David Weir defended his manager’s tactics and made the following bizarre statement,

“We didn’t come to Prague to settle for a 0-0 draw. I don’t think you ever go into a game looking for that.”

Right

David is absolutely right in what his says apart from the fact that they did go there to settle for a 0-0 draw! In fact, when defending the tactics Weir went on to say,

“He’s obviously put a lot of thought into it and it was very close to working for us.”

Very close to working in the way that they nearly got a 0-0 draw I assume he means. So the tactics would have worked if they had drawn 0-0. It is quite clear that the players were embarrassed by the tactics and formation. If they weren’t, why come out with preposterous statements like Weir did.

Caustic

The manager of the Czech side made the following caustic observation after the game.

“I remember playing against a Scotland team that played ‘normal’ football.”

The people who actually suffer most in all of this are the loyal supporters. Everyone knows about the Tartan Army. They follow their team all over the world offering a level of support that most countries can only dream of. They are a passionate group who want to see their players playing with spirit, bravery, pride and passion.

Dejected

I can only assume that a majority of the fans who spent a fortune in time and money to follow Scotland to the Czech Republic were utterly dejected by the abject surrender their team made even before a ball had been kicked.

If I was a member of the Tartan Army and I had travelled all those hundreds of miles I would have felt cheated when I saw the team announced and searched the list in vain looking for the name of a striker.

Scotland play Spain this week so if they are only prepared to go for a 0-0 against the Czech Republic, one can only imagine what they are hoping for against the world champions. On the positive side for the Scots fans, they cannot be any more negative than they were last week.

Acceptable

I know it is a manager’s job to get the best results he can with the players he has at his disposal but what happened in the Czech Republic is not acceptable. The game is an entertainment and people pay a fortune to be entertained. If this was allowed to continue nobody would pay to watch and where would that leave the game?