George fears dose of travel sickness

Jul 20 2008 Scott Mcdermott

SCOTLAND boss George Burley has admitted for the first time he wouldn't have chosen two away fixtures to kick off our World Cup campaign.

SFA chief Gordon Smith, president George Peat and former gaffer Alex McLeish thrashed out the qualifying schedule in Amsterdam last December.

It sees the Scots face a hugely difficult double-header against Macedonia in Skopje then Iceland in Reykjavik three days later.

If Burley's men don't fly out of the traps in September the road to South Africa could be rocky before he's even had a competitive game at Hampden.

The gaffer insists he would have loved a home match next month because our record in back-to-back clashes where the second game is away from home is extremely poor.

Burley said: "Two away games in three days is a tough start. But we have to cope with it.

"I would have preferred one of them at home but you have to play every team twice anyway.

"It will be a difficult start and that's why the Northern Ireland friendly in August is so important.

"If we could take four points from the Macedonia and Iceland matches it would be a good start, especially away from home.

"Over the years Scotland have struggled when playing back-to-back. We tend to put a lot of effort into the first game and sometimes the second one can be tough.

"Look at the last campaign when we beat Ukraine at Hampden convincingly then lost to Georgia in midweek."

Burley has revealed he will use the warm-up clash against Northern Ireland to find the right strike partnership for future qualifiers.

So far he has used the likes of Kenny Miller, Steven Fletcher and even David Clarkson as a lone hitman.

Burley also says there are possibly four places up for grabs in his starting line-up for the crunch Macedonia tie.

He said: "We need to get the right balance. I'm still looking for a striker partnership.

"In the two previous games against Croatia and Czech Republic we played with one striker and a midfielder joining. But in this match I'll be looking to find the right pair.

"That doesn't necessarily mean we will play two up front in Skopje because we'll be away and Macedonia's formation is slightly different to most teams - more of a 3-4-3.

"However, I need to have an idea of a strike partnership to use in future. You always have six or seven players who are established as first picks. But maybe there are three or four other places up for grabs."

Burley's first major test will come against so-called minnows Macedonia on September 6.

In four meetings with England over the last six years they've earned two draws and lost by just a single goal twice.

Burley knows it will be no walkover and has spent hours looking at them in action on DVDs supplied by England coach Stuart Pearce.

George said: "We've had Macedonia watched and I've seen them on tape against England. They are a good, competitive side and will be pretty similar to the team who faced England.

"Holland are odds-on favourites in the group then you have four other teams who are going to be competitive.

"We must make sure we finish above the other three.

"The others in the group play the same night we face Northern Ireland and we'll have them all watched."

Meanwhile, Burley has explained his reasons for naming Stephen McManus as stand-in Scotland captain.

The Celtic skipper will take the armband from crocked Barry Ferguson for the clashes in Macedonia and Iceland.

Burley said: "Stephen took over from Barry for the Czech game and did well. Stephen is captain of Celtic, he's a fighter and leader on the pitch."