Craig Levein tells fans to bide their time over Jordan Rhodes starting spot

Scotland manager Craig Levein has said that he will not be hurried into giving Jordan Rhodes more playing time in dark blue.

Fans within Hampden called for the introduction of the young striker during the national team’s 0-0 draw with Serbia on Saturday and the Blackburn player was eventually introduced with just nine minutes left.

Levein answered his critics on Monday by saying that he had no doubts that the 22-year old would become a major player on the world stage. Right now though, he intends to select the players he believes give him the best chance of success.

“Jordan Rhodes will be, in time, a fantastic striker for Scotland,” the manager said.

“My job is to try and pick the best team for every situation. Jordan, you have to understand, scored a lot of goals in League One and he hasn’t even really begun his career in the Championship in England.

“I have guys who are Premiership players, who have experience, and who have been involved in these types of occasions before and been over the course before. Jordan will be a hugely important player for us.”

Asked if Rhodes would come into his thinking for Tuesday’s match against Macedonia, or if Kenny Miller would retain his place, Levein insisted he could not be drawn on his plans, simply because he hadn’t yet finalised his selection.

“I haven’t picked the team yet,” he said.

“I’ve got to have some degree of calmness about this and try and not get caught up in everything.”

Levein did reveal that some of the criticism since Saturday had irked him, joking that personal jibes about his glasses in particular were irritating.

“The one thing that has annoyed me in the last couple of days has been these self-acclaimed ‘experts’,” he laughed. “I mean, what do they know about glasses?”

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