Scotland are one of world's top 20 sides - Burley can help us play like one, says James McFadden

Oct 5 2008 Gordon Waddell

JAMES McFADDEN scored the goal of his life as Scotland stood with their backs to a Paris wall.

For six years in a dark blue shirt, it's all he has ever known. Now he believes the time has come for the national team to throw off its shackles and go on the attack - and he believes strongly that George Burley is the man to do it.

The 25-year-old has become the country's talisman, a swaggering maverick who can work his magic against anyone. With 13 goals in 39 caps he has Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish's 30-goal haul in his sights.

But he's fed up living on scraps, chasing lost causes. And that's why a frustrated Faddy, almost more than anyone, was sickened by the pressure heaped on boss Burley after his first competitive clash ended with defeat in Macedonia.

Birmingham City striker McFadden never gave less than his lot for Berti Vogts, Walter Smith and Alex McLeish, but he reckons the former Ipswich, Hearts and Southampton gaffer is the first to give himhope that we're ready to play the game the way he loves it played.

Faddy insisted: "Burley is trying to make us a better team. Last campaign we were very much a counter-attacking side. We soaked up pressure and caught teams on the break - and it worked well. But you can only do that for so long.

"From our first meeting the manager, it was 'How can we improve? How can we change the way we play? How can we attack teams?' "At the time we were 14th in the world - now we're 16th.

But we're no longer a team who needs to sit back and let teams come on to us. We have good players, a good squad and must play football.

"Scotland teams of the past had great players who played good, entertaining football for our fans. I want to win but also to enjoy my football.

"I don't want to go in to matches thinking: 'We need to sit back and sneak something'.

"Look back at the last campaign. Yes, we had some great results and no-one will ever forget our 1-0 win over France, far less me for the goal I scored. But our best display was Ukraine at home where we dominated from start to finish.

"We want to win and come off the pitch with a satisfaction that we are better than the team we've just beaten.

"Anyone looking at our last campaign will know we are a good side and maybe they'll think they need to sit back a bit against us instead of the other way round.

"If that happens we need to force their hand, try to get some goals, play decent football and enjoy ourselves."

McFadden's rallying cry comes at the perfect time, six days ahead of the home match against Norway that could make or break Scotland's campaign to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa.

Victory in Iceland four days after the meltdown in Macedonia was crucial - but maybe not as crucial as Norway dropping two vital points at home to the Icelanders.

A win on Saturday would move us five points ahead of our biggest rivals to challenge Holland for top spot.

And the former Motherwell striker admitted: "Everyone was disappointed after losing in Macedonia. The players felt it as much as anyone else.

"We wanted to win. The extremely hot conditions were not ideal - we refused to make the conditions an excuse at the time but it wasn't easy to play in that heat.

"Maybe we should have gone at them from the start. But if we'd blown a gasket after an hour then people would have said we should have sat back instead and soaked up the pressure. You'll never win.

"We always said we'd have been happy with four points from the opening two games - we ended up with one less after a hard win in Iceland, against a team coming off a good point in Norway.

"We had ambitions for the group but you re-adjust. Now we must aim to win our four games at home, the other two away and maybe sneak a draw in Holland. That's the best-case scenario.

"Ultimately all you can do is take one match at a time. If we beat Norway, we're in a great position. It's still in our hands, despite all the doom and gloom we seem to be getting after two games."

The nat ion is suffering from a heightened expectation on the back of thrilling Euro 2008 campaign.

But Faddy insists he's used to dealing with that burden sitting on his shoulders on a weekly basis now - partly placed there by Blues fans, partly by boss McLeish - as City try to bounce back to the Premiership at the first time of asking.

Eck's piling it on because he knows, at 25, Faddy is as grown up as he'll ever be.

He doesn't just want him to be a man - he wants him to be THE man.

McFadden said: "The whole league expects us to go straight back up, never mind our own fans.

"But you want that pressure, that feeling of going in to games knowing that if you don't win you will be disappointed.

"I want to impress. I enjoy having that responsibility on my shoulders every week. There are times when I'm playing out of position but it's a team game and you have to play for everyone else.

"There's no perfect solution for me. But at least this time I'm playing because the manager wants me to and not because I'm filling in somewhere. He's picking me, putting down my name and it's letting other players get a game in maybe the position I want to play in.

"But at least it's not a case of filling in for a match then dropping back out.

"I've dealt with a lot of things in the past few years, even last summer when there was a lot said about me supposedly wanting to leave.

"Speculation has been part of my life for the past five years. Twice a year it's Celtic, Rangers or other clubs and in the end nothing ever happens.

"But at least the time when I leftmy last club Everton I knew the interest was real - and I want to pay back the manager for showing faith in me.

"McLeish tells me he needs me to play, he tells me where he wants me. He's giving me a lot of responsibility and as a result I'm gaining a lot of confidence too."