ALEX McLeish will look to Steven Fletcher to perform the same role for Scotland as Olivier Giroud did for France as the Russia 2018 finals this summer in his first international match in 13 months this evening.
McLeish has recalled Fletcher, who last played for the national team when he came on in a World Cup qualifier against Slovenia away in September last year, due to injuries to Leigh Griffiths and Steven Naismith.
However, the 31-year-old, who is the top scorer in the squad with nine goals in 31 appearances, looks set to be given the nod to start in the Group C1 match in the Loro Borici Stadium ahead of Oli McBurnie.
The Scotland manager believes the former Hibernian, Burnley, Sunderland and Marseille man, who has netted three times in his last nine matches for Sheffield Wednesday in the English Championship, has the abilities help his team get a victory in their penultimate fixture.
He sees similarities between Fletcher and Giroud, the Chelsea striker who failed to register a single shot on target at Russia 2018 despite playing in all seven of the winners’ matches, in how they play up front.
“I had to make further investigations about Steven,” he said. “Because I was told a few months ago that he wasn’t going to be at a level to play games for Sheffield and Scotland as well. He had to get his rhythm back and a wee bit of strength and fitness about him.
“The more he was playing the more I thought ‘right, I have to make some kind of contact here’. In recent games I have watched him. I watched the game on Friday night. He had a strong game for them. It was a massive result for them in the Sheffield derby (Wednesday drew 0-0 with United at Bramall Lane on Friday night).
“He’s vastly experienced. I’ve worked with him before and I know his holding abilities. Look at the French team with Giroud. He hasn’t scored that many but he’s integral to the system of the team. There’s not a lot of people who can play with that holding skill that Fletcher has. That’s just one of his traits.
“We are short of goals in terms of other players in the team so it’s something we’re looking to change and Steven might not score but he might set up for others. To be fair, the form he’s in he’s looking likely to get on the international scoresheet again.
“You can see a lot of the players, a lot of the younger ones, look up to him. They are strengthened as well and have got a feelgood factor about having a guy with Fletcher’s experience on board.”
The Scotland squad stayed in Tirana last night and will travel the 55 miles to Shkoder this afternoon. McLeish feels the unusual pre-match schedule will have no bearing on the outcome of the game against Albania.
“We don’t think it’s an issue,” he said. “We’re comfortable with it and we won’t make any excuses. It’s part of the planning and we feel that it’s the right thing to do.
“Because we have an hour and a half travel we’ll be doing it early and getting to the venue in plenty time. Just because you don’t train at the venue can you still win? I believe so. We can still get the result that matters.
“I’m sure we can do it. It’s two games and as we keep saying nothing else matters. The logo at the training ground is ‘nothing matters more’ and we’ll go with that.”
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