We are about to talk to Ryan Christie. Obviously, he is a player who has had a brilliant season for his club, where he is playing in a deeper role. When clubs change the positions of the players a bit, does that give you food to think as manager?
“It is always good to see them play in different positions. Obviously, Ryan began his career as an extreme, if he wishes. He would not agree with that, but he always played everything. For me, in general, with the national team, he has always played with the width.
“In certain games we have played it as one of the number eight to move forward. He is playing that role in Bournemouth. He plays number eight. Everyone says he plays a little deeper, but if you really see him playing for Bournemouth, he is very involved in the greatest pressing the launch.
“It occurs after the game, does everything Ryan is good. Obviously, if I decide to start with Ryan, he also brings a little freshness.”
We talk about your team and how you have new players that come too. George Hirst made his debut in Scotland. What did you do of your debut and what do you like specifically?
“I think he just brought a different dimension. In the second half, especially, we were particularly long. His two plants seemed to be winning most of the headers. I thought, if I put George, he really won a couple of headers. He took the ball in the corner for us a couple of times.
“It simply brings a slightly different dimension to how che [Adams] He plays as a front center, or how Tommy Conway plays as a front center. Maybe a little similar to how Lyndon Dykes does it for us. It simply gives us more depth in that position. “
Greece also has his young talent, Konstantinos Karetsas. He had a real influence on the game, right? If it starts or if it comes, how is it about trying to prevent it from being so influential?
“I think that when the other night came to the field, the crowd was excited because a 17 -year -old has chosen not to play for Belgium, but to return and play for Greece, which is excellent for them. His first action in the game was really good. That excited the crowd.
“From there, he joined the game. He controlled them quite well as the game continued. Kieran continues and sits in front of him. We regulate a threat a little. With luck, we can also do it in the game in Hampden.”
You talked about fans there. Fans here in Hampden will have an important role to play, right?
“A crowd is a crowd. When you are playing at home, you expect the local crowd to be with you. In Hampden, normally, in my time here, the crowd has always been there. They do not appear wanting to see you fight. They advance wanting to see you win. With luck, we can give them something to shout.”
Scotland, obviously, has reached elite status in the League of Nations. Is it harder to stay in that place, do you think?
“Well, UEFA has made it more difficult because normally the third position kept you awake.
“What he does now is that he gets a play-off game, that’s why we are here. To be honest, I prefer to play competitive games in March than to have four friendlies before entering the World Cup qualifier.
“So I think it worked quite well.”
Is there any feeling, given the developments that Scotland has made, that you really belong to that superior group?
“Well, if we stay awake, then we are demonstrating that we belong there. What I would say is that, as you develop and play against the best opposition, and I think that in the games the past fall, we improve as a team.
“Our world classification fell. I’m not sure how it works, but I felt we were improving as a team and then you go for the world classification. So there is a small anomaly there, but I would prefer to play against the best teams because that will improve your players.”
