Neilson makes debut as Smith refuses to upset team

WALTER Smith's commonsense insistence on continuity in the Scotland team means that Robbie Neilson will make his international debut in the demanding environment of the Olympic Stadium here in Kiev tonight.

The 26-year-old Hearts right-back's call to the cause in the Euro 2008 Group B match against Ukraine is the result of the national team manager's preference for minimising changes necessitated by the suspension of the West Ham defender, Christian Dailly.

It is an indication of his trust in all of his players - and surely a huge fillip to Neilson's confidence - that Smith should have "no qualms" about giving him his first cap in a match the manager believes will be as difficult as the one that ended in the famous 1-0 victory over France last Saturday.

If, however, he has faith in Neilson's readiness to deputise for the ultra-experienced Dailly - the latter has 64 Scotland appearances to his credit - he is concerned over the possibility of an adverse reaction from both James McFadden and Lee McCulloch to their efforts against the French.

Each having been inactive for around five weeks before the Hampden match, McFadden and McCulloch were both substituted as they eventually capitulated to tiredness. With Kenny Miller returning from suspension to take the lone striker role played by McFadden at the weekend, Smith's dilemma is the choice between the other two for the position wide on the left of a four-man midfield.

McCulloch was given that part against France, but it had been almost universally supposed that McFadden would automatically return to it, with a view to supporting Miller at opportune moments in a reprise of the system used at the start of the 2-1 victory over Lithuania in Kaunas last month.

Smith, though, seemed genuinely in conflict yesterday, revealing that he would have to see both players in the final training session last night and then wait until today before making what he agreed was a difficult judgment.

"We've had to monitor McFadden and McCulloch closely since the France game," said Smith. "The thing is, it's the second match back from a lengthy period of inactivity that is always likely to be more problematic than the first.

"I wasn't concerned about their absence before the Hampden game, because, in these circumstances, players are carried through it by the rush of adrenaline. But it's in their second outing, and especially when it comes as quickly after the first as this one has, that they can have a reaction. You see it in club football all the time.

"It's also a very difficult thing to judge beforehand. All you can do is make an assessment, but there is no way of actually telling how they will be until the match takes place. And, no matter how well they did against France, that was a very tough match.

"As for Robbie Neilson, I think it's better to make a direct change if at all possible. There are other options for compensating for the loss of Dailly, but they would have a domino effect, causing three or four alterations in personnel and positioning.

"I have no qualms about selecting Robbie. He's been with our group a couple of times and he knows what's required. He's like Paul Hartley, in that he has matured and developed through Hearts' good form in the last couple of years. What will I say to him? I'll just tell him he's picked."

Ukraine, considered by Smith to be formidable at the best of times, will be keen to repair some of the damage they sustained in the 2-0 defeat by Italy in Rome last Saturday. Another reversal would leave them nine points off the pace set by the Scots, a big deficit, even if Ukraine have played one game fewer.

With their most celebrated player, striker Andriy Shevchenko, recovered from the viral infection that kept him out of the Italy match and almost certain to play, the Scotland defence will be required once again to maintain a high level of concentration and alertness.

But, as the Scots captain, Barry Ferguson, observed yesterday: "Our guys at the back handled Thierry Henry very well on Saturday and I think he's the best in the world." Nevertheless, this promises to be another serious test for a Scottish team who have been confounding expectations since the start of the series, registering three successive victories and accumulating an impressive goals ratio of 9-1.

Smith expects Oleg Blokhin's side, like the French, to enjoy the bulk of the possession, but is not convinced that they will become as frustrated and discouraged as Raymond Domenech's team at Hampden when their first-half ascendancy failed to produce an advantage.

"They are similar to the French in that they are very athletic and very quick," said Smith. "They have a very good all-round group. But the reason why I told our players at half-time in the Hampden match that France would become frustrated was that I didn't see how they could sustain the effort they had made before the break.

"They worked extremely hard at closing us down and it was very likely that, when it didn't bring them a goal, they would become frustrated.

"I think Ukraine could be different in that they are likely to be more even in their efforts through the match, not putting all of their energy into trying to finish us off early.

"Our players analyse what they've done and they know what a hard match it was against France. I've told them every game will be like that for Scotland. We can't afford much of a margin for error. We can't drop a level in commitment and hope to get the result we're after.

"But this entire group is like that. I thought, initially, that there was a chance of one of the big three, France, Italy and Ukraine, actually going through it unbeaten, with maybe a few draws along the way. But they've all lost already, and we're only three games in."

Taken from the Scotsman