Strachan should go back to basics

Sometimes in order to move forwards, you need to first take a step backwards.

Beaten by Serbia on Tuesday night, Scotland have now lost four competitive games in a row.

It is a run that has done for our hopes of reaching the World Cup in Brazil next year.

And, worryingly, it also carries the potential to derail our hopes of making the 2016 Euros before that qualifying campaign has even begun.

I say that because we are about to hit a daunting sequence of fixtures.

Croatia (away), England (away), Belgium (home), Macedonia (away) all have to be tackled before we entertain Croatia at Hampden on October 15.

Lose all, or even most, of those games and morale will sink to an all-time low.

That is why I think it is time to go back to basics.

Gordon Strachan’s immediate aim has to be to make us hard to beat which would be a significant improvement right now.

It is not a new idea. Walter Smith made it his first priority when he took charge in 2004.

Some will say that was okay back then because he had a better group available to him.

And that since our best talent remains creative forwards, the only sensible thing to do is have a go.

I would look at it the other way.

Central defence has been a big problem for us for years now.

It has come to a head just now, with key men either struggling themselves or in a situation where their clubs are struggling.

Confidence is low across the back four and we are being sabotaged by individual errors.

The only way to stop that happening is to give them extra protection.

By that I am suggesting we play two holding midfielders in front of the back four.

These players would be charged with breaking up opposition attacks before it was too late.

I think Gordon Strachan acknowledged the need for just that sort of player through his selection and use of Liam

Bridcutt.

The Brighton midfielder specialises in just this sort of football.

He wasn’t bad in Novi Sad and I think we should give him a bit of leeway which is also my thoughts about the manager himself.

Gordon deserves the chances to build his own side and deploy them in the system he wants to use.

The only problem with this plan, of course, is the co-efficient.

Fall into Pot Five and we could face the sort of nightmare proposition we had in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

When you have France, Italy and the Ukraine in your group, you are always going to be really struggling to progress.

So we have to improve results now, all the while trying to build a new, vibrant side capable of taking us to France 2016.

To say it won’t be easy is an understatement.