Levein will continue to trust his counsel and turn deaf ear to tactical advice from masses

Michael Grant
Chief football writer

CRAIG Levein last night insisted his team selections and substitutions will never be influenced by what the supporters tell him to do.

Scotland fans repeatedly chanted for Jordan Rhodes to be brought off the bench during the second half of the goalless World Cup qualifier against Serbia on Saturday. Levein did not respond to them but eventually made the change just 10 minutes from the end of the game.

The entire team was then jeered off at full-time as two precious points were dropped in the opening qualifier, and fans have made it clear to Levein that they want Rhodes to start instead of Kenny Miller at home to Macedonia tomorrow night.

But Levein made it clear he would not be swayed by what supporters pressurise him to do, and would rely solely on his own judgement. "If every time the fans started shouting for a player and I put the player on because they wanted him, we'd be as well not having a manager and letting the supporters pick the team," he said. "I did what I considered to be the right changes at the right time, although having said that I might have gone a bit earlier."

Rhodes won his third cap and made his Hampden debut, the £8m Blackburn Rovers signing coming on along with QPR's Jamie Mackie. "Jordan has come on the scene and scored a lot of goals so in the minds of the supporters, and rightly so, Jordan equals goals," said Levein. "That doesn't always work. I have to make judgements on what I think is the right thing to do at the time. If you want to talk about who impacted on the game most there was only one player and that was Jamie Mackie.

"I've been doing this for a long time. Jordan Rhodes is a player but he's untried and untested at international level. I thought Kenny Miller played excellently. He worked his socks off for the team. He got us up the pitch and he had opportunities. Would I class the two of them as the same sort of player just now? No. What Jordan can do is have an impact on the game and it might be that Tuesday is the game when he has an impact. We go from extremes, we go from nothing to 'he's the best player who's ever played'. Jordan is a young lad learning his way in the game.

"I don't think there will be an issue with the supporters on Tuesday night. They were magnificent. People get tense and frustrated later in matches if you're not winning and I understand that."

Levein has watched DVDs of Macedonia's recent performances and his scout, Mick Oliver, saw them play very impressively as they lost only 1-0 away to Croatia, the group favourites, on Friday night. "They're no mugs. It's a tough match but we'll go into it hugely positive," said Levein.

Charlie Mulgrew, Danny Fox and Russell Martin will miss the tie. Steven Naismith will be available but could be suspended for the games against Wales and Belgium next moth. The Scottish Football Association must wait to learn whether Fifa will take retrospective action after he caught Srdan Mijailovic with a forearm smash in an off-the-ball incident. Referee Jonas Eriksson did not see it but, if the incident was included in match delegate Christian Schmolzer's report, Naismith could face a two-game ban.

Taken from the Herald