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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Ross Pilcher

Austin McPhee's Scotland set piece savvy questioned with Shane Duffy 'not rocket science' assessment

Michael Stewart has questioned Austin McPhee's Scotland set piece set up after Shane Duffy caused havoc during Ireland's 3-0 win in Dublin.

The former Celtic loan flop won the header that assisted Alan Browne's opener, then was only denied by a fine Craig Gordon save after Troy Parrott had nodded the hosts into a 2-0 goal lead.

Jack Hendry, Grant hansley and Scott McKenna struggled to deal with the Brighton defender's physicality from corners as Steve Clarke's side looked vulnerable each time the ball was swung into the box.

Former Hearts assistant and caretaker boss McPhee is responsible for overseeing defensive and attacking set plays for the national team, and performs a similar role as part of Steven Gerrard's coaching staff at Aston Villa.

But Stewart didn't see much in the way of a plan to deal with Duffy right from the off during the Nations League clash, suggesting that it should have been something the Scotland players were on top of.

"Scotland have Austin McPhee who’s a set piece specialist. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Shane Duffy is a danger from set pieces," he told Premier Sports.

Gary [Breen] talked in commentary about Andy Robertson looking at him. Surely from the start of the game, you put two men on him?

“You try to stop him from being able to run at the ball and being able to attack it. He did it early on in the game and that just built the momentum for Ireland. Scoring that goal changes the dynamic of the game dramatically and it comes from a set-piece

"Ireland were very good at them."

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