Scotland great Maurice Malpas has backed the national team to beat Haiti regardless of the formation they play – but has admitted he would like to see manager Steve Clarke revert to a five man defence at the World Cup and go on the offensive.
Clarke looks set to stick with the 4-4-2 system which he used in the warm-up friendly wins over Curacao in Glasgow last month and Bolivia in New Jersey last weekend in the Group C encounter with the Caribbean nation in the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough on Saturday evening.
He last deployed three centre-backs and two wing-backs in a competitive fixture in his side’s final Euro 2024 group game against Hungary in Stuttgart – a match which they lost 1-0 to crash out of the competition.
However, the change was mainly due to the absence of Kieran Tierney, who spent five months out after suffering a serious knee injury in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in Cologne four days before that outing, and the Celtic left-back is fully fit once again and in great form.
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Malpas, who represented his country at Mexico ’86 and Italia ’90 as well as at Euro ’92, believes that Andy Robertson and his team mates are so experienced at international level that they can reach the knockout rounds however they are set up.
But the former Dundee United full-back wants Scotland go back to using the five man rearguard – with Tierney at left centre-half and Robertson outside him at wing-back - which helped them to take Euro 2024 qualifying by storm and book their place in Germany with two games to spare.
“Andy Robertson can play anywhere,” he said. “He's an experienced player and will flourish whatever the system is. Aaron Hickey has got great legs and likes to bomb up and down the park. I’m honestly not too sure if he prefers to be a flying wing-back or an out-and-out full-back.
“The beauty of the players Scotland have got is they can muck about with their system and still perform well. They can play full-backs or wing-backs, it really doesn’t matter. They have used a lot of different formations, 4-4-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1, 5-4-1, in qualifying games in the past and done well.
“When Tierney started playing as a left centre-back a few fans got a shock about it. But he's a left-sided player and a decent defender. So it's been natural for him to go and play there. But he can also go and play as a wing-back or a full-back as well.
“I still think the players prefer when they have five at the back with the two wing-backs. I also think they’re a better team when they play that way. But that doesn't necessarily mean Stevie is going to play like that against Haiti.
“Listen, Haiti might play with one up top on Saturday. If that happens, you don’t want to have five defenders up against one player. It's far easier to go to a back four then. Certain situations work better than other ones in some games.
“But Stevie will know how Haiti are going to play. He and his coaching staff will have done their homework. He will pick what he thinks is the best way to play and then they’ll get on with it.”
Many fans and commentators have tipped Clarke to use five at the back in the Group C games against Morocco and Brazil – the seventh and sixth placed teams in the current FIFA World Rankings respectively – because they feel that having an extra man in defence will help Scotland to contain their opponents better.
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But Malpas said, “I don't think five at the back is necessarily more defensive. A lot of teams which are good defensively play with back fours. Sometimes playing five at the back allows your wing-backs, your wider players, to get forward more and get more deliveries into the box.
“Sometimes when you play as a back four, it's scary to split your back four up because of the pace in the opposition team. Gaps can get exploited really quickly on the counter attack.
“The beauty of the squad that Stevie has put together is there are guys there who can play in two or three different positions and play them at a good standard.
“They've got a bunch of senior players. They're more than one-trick ponies. They can play in umpteen places and they handle it with ease. Even at the World Cup, they'll still be able to handle it.
“It's just about getting the system right so they can defend properly. But for me the biggest thing is still having the ability to get attacks started. I think that the back five allows them to do both.”
