Smith looks to McFadden to jump-start Euro bid

UNACCUSTOMED as they have become to achieving distinction in major championship qualifying, even Scotland would look in vain for forgiveness in the event of failure to beat the Faroe Islands at Celtic Park this afternoon.

Nor, on his own admission yesterday, would the popular Walter Smith feel secure in his work were this opening match of the Euro 2008 campaign and the visit to Lithuania on Wednesday to yield the kind of embarrassments that marked the efforts of his predecessor, Berti Vogts, against the same opponents.

Smith's improvement in the morale and the performances of the Scotland squad over the past 20 months has been impressive enough to have prompted his assistant, Tommy Burns, to counsel the SFA to offer him an immediate extension to his contract, which expires at the end of the Group B series.

But Smith himself remained diffident on the eve of this first test, insisting that all talk of a glittering personal future would be instantly invalidated by a couple of bad experiences over the next four days.

"It's a very simple situation," said Smith. "Like any other manager, if we have a successful campaign, the SFA will probably ask me to stay on. If not, they won't. It's really quite uncomplicated and I am very happy with the current situation. But none of this is likely to matter if we do badly in these opening two games."

One of Smith's predecessors, Craig Brown, believed that an opening fixture at home to the lowest-rated team in the group - the Faroes are ranked 139th in the world - was not ideal, on the grounds that the expected three points should be saved for a time when the contest was reaching the crucial stage.

But Smith regards the Scots' first two outings as opportunities to make a productive start, thereby deepening confidence and self-belief for later, immeasurably more demanding collisions with Italy, France and Ukraine.

The first - and, it is to be hoped, only - shock today may come with the omission of Kris Boyd from Smith's starting line-up. The Rangers striker's prolific scoring for his club in recent matches has led to the widespread assumption that he will partner Kenny Miller in attack, the Celtic player having already been confirmed as a starter.

But Smith's response when asked about Boyd's possible inclusion earlier this week was non-committal and it is not difficult to suspect that he has yet to be persuaded of Boyd's readiness to start an international.

There is also the manager's own tendency to rely on players who have performed satisfactorily for him during his time in charge. If that is the criterion by which he has made Miller - famine-stricken this season so far - a first pick, there is every reason to suppose that he will apply the same process to Garry O'Connor.

The former Hibs striker's performances with Lokomotiv Moscow have been the subject of favourable reports, in addition to which he, too, has pleased Smith with his form in the dark blue shirt. Gradual introduction of new blood is Smith's preference and Boyd may have to settle for a place on the bench at Celtic Park.

It seems certain, too, that James McFadden will be selected in a formation that could be interpreted as a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2. The Everton forward said the other day that he regards himself as a striker - as opposed to a "floater" - but Smith is not ready to agree.

"I think he is a striker, in that he can score goals," said the manager, of a player whose nine from 27 appearances make him the most prolific provider in the squad. "But not necessarily as a predator operating solely inside the penalty area.

"James has the ability to do excellent work outside the box. What we need is to have a solid unit around him so that he is allowed the space to impose his talent for beating opponents.

"But the actual formation or the personnel matters less than the need to show that we can push ourselves forward and get the performance and the result we are after. When you look at our group from the start, you see that we are going to be involved with teams rated from number one in the world to 139.

"That is a wide range to cover and it will pose wildly varying problems and necessitate different approaches and styles.

"If we start with a home match against the team ranked 139, it is obvious that there will be pressure on us to make that start a winning one.

"So that pressure is there and we have to prove that we can go forward and be creative and score goals.

"There is no getting away from the expectation surrounding the match and we have to live up to the expectation."

If a heavy reliance is placed on the forwards, the burden will at least be shared by the three midfielders who seem to be automatic choices. Darren Fletcher, Paul Hartley and Nigel Quashie will unite once again, with Smith convinced that Hartley is fully prepared after his lengthy absence from the Hearts team through injury.

"Paul Hartley has come back into a couple of hard games for his club and is ready to play all right," said Smith, virtually confirming the player's appearance. The return of Everton's Gary Naysmith - highly rated by the manager - should ensure that he plays on the left of a back four along with Graham Alexander, Steven Pressley and David Weir, in front of goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

The Faroes lost their opening match in the series 6-0 at home to Georgia last month, but, as Smith emphasised, "they lost by the same margin in Switzerland in the first match of the World Cup qualifying and thereafter made it very difficult for a number of teams".

Even allowing for the north Atlantic islanders' resorting to an ultra-defensive formation in order to avoid another embarrassment, buildings will collapse if the Scots fail to achieve their objective.

Taken from the Scotsman