Scott McTominay surged forward twice to savage Spain, exactly as he had done on a couple more occasions to clatter Cyprus.
John McGinn was also in on the scoring act yet again to get the whole Euro 2024 campaign going as Callum McGregor sat and savoured his team-mates causing the devastating damage. While his rampagning midfield pals were hammering the five goals which have Scotland sitting proud and pretty at the top of Group A, the Celtic captain was back on his beat helping to ensure those precious strikes were properly protected.
McGregor is delighted to play his role in the unit and thrilled that it's all working just as Steve Clarke wants it. The Parkhead skipper offers the secure insurance policy which lets his colleagues hit the areas to make mayhem and it’s paying huge dividends. It played out perfectly against the shattered Spanish when McTominay took his tally to a stunning four in two games to add to McGinn’s one against Cypriots.
McGregor said: “The structure of the team probably allows one of the midfielders to go, the other one to sit and be secure with the three. Obviously Scotty has got great athleticism, he can get forward, he can join in, and he has shown the quality as well to go and finish.
“He’s a brilliant weapon to have for any team, and especially for us to try to utilise that as we can. You have to be able to score goals in your team to be successful at this level, and if you can spread them around, then you’re not relying on strikers or wingers.
“You need goals in your team to win matches and to qualify for tournaments, so it’s brilliant for Scotty and what a night for him individually. But it was a brilliant night for us as a group and obviously for the supporters as well.
“That’s it. You need everybody to function properly within the team or else the team doesn’t function. There’s 11 of us for a reason and the manager wants everybody to play their part. The defensive side of the game is just as important as the attacking side, and vice-versa. When it all comes together, as it did on Tuesday night, then brilliant.”
McGregor laughed when asked if he’d thought of bombing on and asking McTominay to sit and he smiled: “Not when he’s scoring two goals every game!”
But it’s a serious business when it comes to the implementation of Clarke’s planning and the duties which are carried out. McGregor is a trusted lieutenant. In the build-up to the double-header, assistant boss John Carver called him a controller.
Carver added that, due to the Celtic star’s footballing brain, he feels like he’s talking to the coach as well as a top-class player when the pair converse. McGregor is happy with such praise, but knows he has to produce and said: “Of course, that’s what you want. You want to work with people that trust you and trust your knowledge of the game.
“For us to put it into practice in the game is the biggest thing. Obviously you can speak to people and understand that they know the game, but you also have to go out there and deliver it.
“In that role in the team, it’s important that we still have that balance when we’re attacking because you need to lock out the game and secure counter attacks and things like that.
“It’s a nice little compliment, but again, most importantly, it’s all about the team.”
With 51 caps on his CV, McGregor is one of Clarke’s leaders. He’s got Andy Robertson, with bags of top-level Liverpool experience, wearing the armband. 16-goal McGinn is a talisman. McTominay has the stature of a Manchester United background.
But McGregor says individuals all throughout the group assume responsibility and explained: “I think any time you guys speak to me I always say the same thing. If you want to be successful then you need four, five or six leaders in your team, not just one or two.
“It’s good that we’ve got that mix. We’ve got big Granty [Hanley], Kieran [Tierney] is a leader, you’ve got guys right through who are big leaders and big personalities as well. On nights like that, you need five or six of those in your team to drag you over the line in the moments where you have to defend.
“There was probably a five or six minute spell just before the end of the first half where we were under the cosh a little bit, and that’s the moment when you need the big players with the personalities to stand up and ride you through it. I thought we did that excellently as well.”
The ability and the tenacity was all too much for the Spanish to handle on the night. Scotland shook Luis de la Fuente’s team out of their routine and, in doing so, proved they can mix it with the best at Hampden if they get it right.
McGregor said: “Well of course, that’s where we want to get to. We obviously need to do it in a slightly different way, and when teams come here, we want to make it difficult for them.
“We upset the rhythm of their game and they probably got sucked into it a little bit as well, trying to argue with the referee and things like that. They probably didn’t play the game as slick as they like to play it,”
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