Burley seeks his Dutch of class

Andrew Smith
THE STATISTICS make ugly reading. Scotland's 1-0 midweek loss to Argentina leaves them with one win from seven games in 2008 under George Burley, the first year in two decades that they have secured only a single victory. By contrast, as Scotland were capitulating at Hampden, their next World Cup opponents, Netherlands, were enjoying a 3-1 home win over Sweden. It was their 11th win from 15 games in 2008 – a new Dutch record for victories in a calendar year.
Maybe Scotland should spare themselves and their followers a whole lot of grief by simply forfeiting the Group 9 tie awaiting them at the Amsterdam Arena on March 28. As Burley finds all aspects of his stewardship micro-analysed and macro-criticised, maybe he should have had the good sense to avoid exposing himself to the unflattering scrutiny always likely to follow a friendly against the world's sixth ranked side.

The Scotland manager maintains the encounter was an "education"; allowed his players to demonstrate they could compete with the sort of quality a fourth-ranked Dutch will ooze, albeit following a flailing in the first 20 minutes; let them further "settle" into the 4-4-2 system that most are used to at club level and gave him the opportunity to integrate the previously injured Barry Ferguson and Alan Hutton and give international exposure to his latest call-ups Lee Miller and Scott Robertson. With the exception of his generous rendering of 70 minutes in which Argentina were happy to coast, Burley's belief in the merit of the other night as the final game preparation for Holland might be more than simply an attempt to justify taking on a friendly of debatable value.

In sharing a pitch with such as Carlos Tevez, his players were indeed afforded an opportunity to pit themselves against the sort of top-tier opponents many will not meet again until the Dutch are tackled in four months. And in terms of the nuts and bolts of the schooling his Scotland squad require to soak up, Burley impresses more than when struggling in cringeworthy fashion for decent pre-match and post-match soundbites.

"There is no doubt we finished the Norway game (0-0 draw] strong," he said. "We adapted the same type of system – 4-4-2 – against Argentina and I thought we looked comfortable. That doesn't mean you can't have a striker dropping a bit deeper when you lose the ball, but we're starting to settle into a system with players capable of doing it.

"Argentina's play was so clever and their strikers' movement very intelligent. What you find with clever forwards is that they don't stand against your back four, they drift into little holes. That makes it very difficult to mark them and that was the case. They were getting into positions where our back four felt a bit vulnerable to push in and mark and that pulled our midfield back a bit.

"Then after 15 or 20 minutes we pushed the midfield further forward and got at them more, closed them down and got higher up the pitch and coped very well after that.

"You're learning all the time against world-class opposition; they're not players who just stand in the box or don't have movement. They're clever, they've got great football brains, they're quick, strong and skilful. Robin van Persie scored twice for Holland in their 3-1 over Sweden and he's another of that calibre. But international football is about playing against the likes of Tevez and Van Persie. You've got to learn from it and try and get your formation playing without fear. I think we did that after 20 minutes but you're asking players who aren't playing against that type of opposition week in, week out to adjust very quickly to international football."

In fairness to Burley, his "find", Kris Commons, has assimilated into the environment swiftly and successfully. The Derby County winger was the one player who unquestionably enhanced his Scotland credentials. "He was outstanding; in the mould of old wingers in taking players on, beating them, and getting quality crosses in," he said.

It is all about balancing acts for Burley before Holland hove into view. He believes he has performed one in taking on a friendly last week and settling for a squad gathering when the next international date comes around. Burley claims he will assemble a happy, excited camp, though chat persists it is split on his merits even after the desertions of Kris Boyd and Lee McCulloch.

"I was fortunate enough to see Holland play Norway which was great because you don't get that many opportunities because you're usually playing," he said. "I've got a good picture of how Holland play and their personnel so it's a get-together for us in February and the big build-up. We'll stay in Scotland and the squad will be the usual size. We've got competition for places in the squad now but the door is always open. I'm going to go round the country watching games and have always said it is up to players to prove it at club level and they'll get their opportunity. And when you come you have to show in training you are keen and bright. That's the way it has to be. It isn't guaranteed. You have to show all the time."

Burley may have always shown himself keen but not, as yet, that he has bright ideas to help Scotland prove themselves at international level. Yet, that cannot be separated from an inconvenient truth: even if he selected a 26-man squad and played them all against the Dutch, starting off 2009 on a better footing than this year has ended could still prove beyond his limited personnel.

Taken from the Scotsman