If Scotland’s players adopt a similarly confident approach as their manager at Wembley next month, tales of this nation’s latest qualifying woe may be hugely exaggerated. Whether through the belief that he now has nothing to lose or otherwise, Strachan has emerged from the aftermath of a harrowing 3-0 loss in Slovakia to speak in enthusiastic terms about what comes next.
“At the moment I just think I am the best man to go down there with the group and get a result,” Strachan insisted.
Plenty of people disagree, of course. Tuesday night’s reverse in Trnava means the Scots have taken just four points from three matches against Malta, Lithuania and Slovakia. There is a widespread understanding that Strachan will depart the international scene if his players do not return from England with victory. Evidence of progress is sparse, arguably to the point of not existing.
Strachan has benefited from a curious narrative. That is, it should somehow be entirely his decision whether to remain in his post as opposed to the Scottish FA applying pressure. Scotland have gone from supposedly needing four points from October’s double header to the latest “what if” surrounding a Wembley victory.
“I love this job,” Strachan said. “I love working with the people, I love bumping into supporters and I get a great response from them. I love dealing with my backroom staff, with the SFA staff. It’s a fantastic, fantastic job.
“Do I fear the sack? No, I don’t fear the sack because I’m 59, I’m all right, I’ve got loads to do in my life. I have absolutely no fear of the sack because life is good for me. I live in a good world. The only thing I want to do is make people happy.
“Do I fear not working with these players? Yes. Do I fear not working with the staff? Yes. I do not fear getting the sack because really, when I wanted to do this … I’ve been so lucky in football to get to places that people only dream of in football.
“My thought was how do we get these players, this staff, these fans, everybody to a tournament. That would be the disappointing thing, my only fear is not being able to achieve and help people get to places that I know it’s a fantastic thing and fantastic place to be. So getting the sack? There is no fear of that. I would be selfish if I ever did think: ‘I don’t need this.’ That would be really selfish.
“I’ve been through it all as a player, when your back is against the wall. I’ve had it as assistant manager. As a manager. There’s been times when life seems a bit harsh. We are the lucky ones. The ones who can play the game, get together, be a group and enjoy the challenge of taking it on again.”
Inevitably, the Scottish buildup to 11 November in London will largely focus on Strachan himself. “I can understand people will say that, that is what you have to deal with,” he said. “It won’t be a real problem to me because when I get back into the environment with the players and the enthusiasm and professionalism that they bring I lose myself. I have to make sure it doesn’t affect them because sometimes players can feel for a manager too much and that can affect them.”
Scotland’s key recurring failing is hardly difficult to spot. The loss of cheap goals undermined hopes of qualification for Euro 2016, a problem that has reappeared during the opening stages of this World Cup campaign. Strachan has to reassess how to deploy an obdurate defence against the caretaker Gareth Southgate’s side. “England always need a result badly with the pressure that is put on them,” Strachan said. “The two teams need a result badly. We have set ourselves back; we are over par compared to what you might have thought we should have done, so we need to start getting birdies.
“Looking at it now, it will benefit us greatly if we can make sure we don’t lose a goal down there because at this moment in time we have to score two at least to win a game of football. I know there were games we won 1-0 but we had to rely on goalkeepers.”
To continue with his own golfing analogy, Strachan is rapidly running out of holes. Just as Scotland would always cherish victory over England, their manager categorically requires it.
