Craig Levein has warned the Tartan Army not to expect a barrowload of goals against Liechtenstein at Hampden on Tuesday night but accepts that his side are expected to pick up three points. The Scotland boss said it is only natural to expect the Group I minnows to play defensively and that could restrict goal-scoring chances.
Scotland drew a blank against Lithuania on Friday night and, though Liechtenstein are ranked 141st in the world, Levein said his players would have to make sure they were clinical in front of goal.
The Scotland boss said that he did not necessarily think that changing formation or using all of the attacking players available was the best route to success. Instead, he stressed the importance of balance in the side and played down the idea that Liechtenstein would be an easy nut to crack.
“We can create as many chances as we like but if we don’t take them it’s irrelevant,” Levein said.
“[In] international football, if you look at it compared to club level, the number of chances that are created are a lot less. So I don’t think that throwing all the attacking players onto the pitch automatically means that we are going to score goals.”
The national team boss said that he had done his homework on Liechtenstein and said they had put in some notable performances in recent years.
“We can’t be disrespectful to Liechtenstein,” he added.
“This is a team that recently went to Iceland and drew. They were in England’s qualification group fairly recently and it was 0-0 at Wembley after something like an hour. This is not a team that are amateurish.
“They’re very well organised. They play 4-4-1-1, two banks of four and they get back behind the ball.
“If you look at the amount of caps they’ve got they’re a team that has played together fairly regularly. Trust me, they’re a decent side.”
