Celtic will be looking to secure the Scottish Premiership title after the international break.
Gordon Smith has harshly claimed that Celtic’s Callum McGregor isn’t a ‘natural leader’ after he captained Scotland over the international break, which resulted in the team receiving a lot of stick from the supporters.
Alex McLeish’s side were thumped 3-0 against Kazakhstan last Thursday before narrowly beating San Marino on Monday as their road to Euro 2020 got off to a shaky start.
Smith claimed that if Bhoys midfielder Scott Brown, who has retired from international football, was on the pitch during those encounters then it would have been a ‘different story’.
“The 25-year-old is in the prime of his career and has enjoyed a breakthrough season with Celtic,” Gordon told the Sunday Post. “He was outstanding in the absence of Scott Brown, and his partnership with Ryan Christie is likely to be a key component of both his club and his country’s future for years to come.
“But I don’t see him as a natural leader of a side. Thursday night showed us that. That is not a criticism of the player – What he wasn’t able to do, however, was rally the team when we suffered the loss of two early goals.
“Had Scott Brown, who recently retired from international football, been on the pitch I think it would have been a different story.”
Scotland are clearly going through a very difficult patch with McLeish taking the brunt of the blame for his tactics, the poor performances and the results.
If things continue as they are then Scotland won’t just fail to qualify for another major tournament, but they will struggle to even put up a fight.
They have a number of talented youngsters and senior stars in their ranks, but some are not part of the squad because they have dropped out for one reason or another.
The likes of Matt Ritchie, Robert Snodgrass and Steven Fletcher are all missing from the side which has not made McLeish’s job any easier.
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