Can Strachan solve goalscoring conundrum?

Gordon Strachan is ready to roll the dice in Macedonia as he scrambles for a solution to his striking conundrum.

As the Scotland manager admits, the retirement from international football of veteran frontman Kenny Miller, coupled with the absence of recent injury victim Steven Fletcher, has left the country short up top.

First Leigh Griffiths, then Jordan Rhodes, were handed the opportunity to shine against Belgium at Hampden on Friday night.

In what was a tough environment the visitors looked seriously decent both suffered in comparison to the colossus that is Christian Benteke.

Tuesday night’s tie, though effectively a dead rubber, offers a quick opportunity for redemption.

And, boosted by the impressive debut from the substitutes’ bench of Ikechi Anya, Strachan dropped a strong hint toward experimentation, with Ross McCormack a potential beneficiary.

“I think we have to try different people,” he said.

“The problem is at the moment we are not blessed with people whose form tells you they must play.

“We have Jamie Mackie, who has only played a couple of games for Nottingham Forest and didn’t play that much last year with QPR.

“Then we have Jordan Rhodes, whose team were fourth bottom of the Championship last year, and Leigh Griffiths, whose team are in League One.

“It is really hard work to step up from those levels and take on defenders of Champions League standard.

“Unfortunately for Jordan, in particular, we use a system which doesn’t suit him right now.

“He is at his best when he plays with another striker, lots of people round about him, and lots of crosses getting fired into the box.

“We don’t get that at international football.

“There are not many teams that do that, and we certainly can’t because we don’t get enough of the ball to go with two wide men plus two up front.

“Do that, and you would get counter-attacked all the time. I don’t think there are many teams who play like that.

“It is very hard to change your plan just for one person who is playing in the English Championship.

“If you are Bayern Munich and you are talking about Mario Mandzukic, you might say: ‘Hmm we can do that’.”

The Scottish answer, of course, is Sunderland’s Steven Fletcher.

The former Hibs forward has been out since March with ankle ligament damage but made a scoring return to action last week with his club against Crystal Palace.

Big, strong and a confident finisher, he is exactly the player to assume Miller’s responsibility as the leader of the line.

“Steven can play any system,” said the national coach.

“He will absolutely improve us in terms of physicality, and he is a very good finisher, a very good player.

“His game all round is top.”

However, Strachan insists he will resist the temptation to issue an emergency call up for Macedonia.

“It would be nice to have him with us but he is not in the group,” he said.

“Sunderland have not been in contact, and neither has Steven so I don’t think it is right for us to go down that road.

“They obviously think it is better for Steven, and Steven thinks it is better for him, to stay there and build him up.

“In an ideal world, I would call on him.

“What I can’t do is create a monster, go about and build us a striking player, make us quicker or taller.

“I can’t stretch Shaun Maloney to be 6ft 2in.”

And that’s a pity because Strachan would really like some extra muscle for Tuesday night.

“This is a big match for us because it is all about building momentum ahead of the Euro qualifiers,” said the national coach.

“We have lost to two very tough teams in the shape of England and Belgium, and this one is winnable.

“Being bottom of the group hurts, and this is our chance to dust ourselves down and do something about it.”