No Pass Marks!

Oct 12 2008 By Gus Macpherson

GUS MacPHERSON knows what it feels like to be a man with a plan and see it all come good.

What he saw at Hampden yesterday simply reminded him you can have the best-laid plans in the world and all it takes is one moment to unravel them.

The St Mirren manager masterminded his side's stunning win over Rangers in the SPL last weekend with a tactical switch that caught everyone off guard and worked a treat.

Fresh from that, we asked him to run the rule over the gameplan of both sides for MailSport yesterday as George Burley and Age Hareide pitted their wits against each other.

Gus said: "Scotland went 4-1-4-1 against Norway's orthodox 4-4-2. George set up with the intent of passing the ball quickly and moving their bigger, slower defenders around.

"You could maybe say it was slightly cautious having Scott Brown sitting in midfield but he did well in that role.

"He has good energy and has brought a real discipline to his game as well.

"But I totally understood why George shaped the team the way he did.

"Maybe the only surprise was Barry Robson playing wide on the right in midfield with James Morrison in one from Shaun Maloney on the left.

"But again there was a good reason because he was probably thinking John Arne Riise is a major threat down that side and he wanted someone more physical to combat him.

"However, once we settled he switched Robson and Morrison and got the natural attacker into the game on that side. I looked at everything George did and understood why. And we started fairly well, it was working.

"We got the ball into wider areas but didn't have the physical presence in the middle to make what we got from the wings count.

"We had a couple of decent crosses but with the size and physical presence of the Norwegian defenders we had nothing to ruffle them.

"It was just frustrating. And the condition of the pitch didn't help us - it was bobbly, the ball didn't move quickly.

"And whether it was down to the pitch or not, the passing was poor at times, not slick enough.

"Norway never really hurt us in terms of passing through us either though.

"What they did get was just down to the individual prowess of John Carew who is a world-class striker."

Burley gave Plan A 10 minutes in the second half - when it didn't improve, cue Plan B and the decision that can turn any manager into a genius or a dud!

MacPherson shrugged: "He made the double change and, whatever you say, it had the desired effect.

"Obviously when you bring Chris Iwelumo on you need to get the ball forward quicker and we did, we caused problems and saw a lot of the ball. Norway had a couple of good chances but that was always going to happen when we were chasing the game and pushing both full-backs on to get deliveries in.

"And it comes down to this - if the big guy scores it's a fantastic substitution.

"Everything the manager did, I could understand why.

"He made the desired change when it wasn't going our way, bringing another striker on, getting a physical presence.

"Big Iwelumo will have a sleepless night, maybe many of them. And even right at the death Kirk Broadfoot put a wonderful ball across the six-yard box and we just weren't quite there.

"You make the changes and hear managers saying 'The substitutions worked for me'. But everything hinges on that miss.

"I thought the goal was coming but you can't legislate for things like that.

"A wonder goal can sometimes make you look great, a miss can leave you with what we have here."