GEORGE Burley will provide further evidence today of his determination to impose his own identity on the national team in the cause of securing a Scotland victory in the vital World Cup qualifier against Norway at Hampden.
The manager will confound widespread expectations that Kris Boyd would replace his Rangers team-mate, the injured Kenny Miller, in attack and will, instead, bring James Morrison, the novice international midfielder from West Brom, into a role beside Shaun Maloney to support the principal striker, James McFadden.
In what will be, in essence, a 4-3-2-1 formation, McFadden will be flanked by Maloney on the right and Morrison on the left, supported by the midfield trio of Scott Brown, Darren Fletcher and Barry Robson as the manager seeks to take advantage of the movement and skilful passing he believes are his squad's most telling assets.
On the eve of arguably the most crucial trial of his tenure so far, Burley's talk yesterday was concentrated almost exclusively on the need for continuity after last month's victory in Iceland and the desirability of taking advantage of the natural ability he is convinced is at his disposal.
The two changes in the side who won 2-1 in Reykjavik are enforced, with central defender Stephen McManus suspended and midfielder Kris Commons having withdrawn because of injury. The veteran David Weir in McManus's place would be regarded as automatic, but Morrison for Commons is likely to be received in many quarters as something of a risk.
Burley, however, consistently underlines the need to exercise his own judgment and to abide by his decisions. His resistance to the widespread assumption that Boyd would form a partnership in attack with McFadden is further evidence of his single-mindedness, his refusal to allow popular opinion, in either the public or the media, to deflect him from his purpose.
It was when the topic of "passion" was raised that Burley showed his modernity, a disdain for the uncontrolled gung-ho approach he considers to be anachronistic.
"Of course, we need passion, in the sense of commitment and industriousness," he said, "but that old thing about just hitting the ball forward to try to put pressure on opponents is outdated and very rarely productive. You really have to build through the midfield and we have players whose strength is good, intelligent movement and quick, short passing.
"The secret is to try to get the best out of your players and that means exploiting their strengths. Our midfield is very strong, so why by-pass it? That would be foolish. I'm a firm believer in progressing through building and developing a style, because that is what will bring results.
"You need to plan how you're going to play and develop that. I've talked of the need for continuity and that applies to our fundamental style, the way we are going to play, even if the personnel won't always be the same. Matches are all different and you have to look at each of them and then make a judgment on who you think will be most suited to the occasion."
Predictably, Burley would not make his team public, but intelligence from within the camp reported the selection of Morrison, while the manager himself effectively confirmed that Maloney, whose career has been resuscitated by his move back to Celtic this season, will be one of those charged with the task of beating the Norwegians with guile, elusiveness and ball skills.
Asked specifically about the little forward, Burley replied: "Well, look to Iceland, as I said, and the continuity we want.
"Shaun played very well there, he is a natural wide, forward-going player rather than a midfielder and he's certainly not defensive. He's quick, he buzzes, he holds the ball well and zips past opponents. He gives us what we're looking for."
Despite the apparent aggressiveness in the team, of course, Burley is not so cavalier as to travel without some form of insurance and there will be a "holding" midfield player, which now looks likely to be Robson. The Celtic player's defensive capabilities were noted last week, when he played at left-back for his club in the 4-0 defeat of Hamilton Academical.
With Fletcher, the captain, expected to encourage and participate in, forward surges and Brown a natural "thruster", it seems logical that Robson will be nominated for the deeper-lying position in midfield. Morrison has played a variety of parts for West Brom and his proximity to McFadden in attack reflects his penchant for scoring goals, as well as his intelligent midfield play.
"James Morrison is improving all the time, now that he is in the Premier League," said Burley. "He has been very pleasing in training all week, he really does look very good. He's a clever player, technically good and very smart at getting into space and using it. He knows how to play in channels between opponents and, when he plays further forward, he has also shown he is capable of scoring goals.
"You have to play to your strengths and, for us, that means getting the ball to feet and letting them do something with it.
"But, of course, it's not just all about attack. When we lose the ball, there will be defending to do and that's when we have to show our diligence and our versatility."
Norway's draw with Iceland in their opening match was clearly damaging and, with Group 9 favourites Holland due in Oslo on Wednesday, Burley is convinced that Scotland's opponents will believe they will have to try to win the match.
It should, as he expects, lead to an unusually open contest this afternoon, but Norway's slide down the rankings in recent years and their present injury worries over influential players – including the prolific Steffen Iversen – would appear to offer the Scots a golden opportunity to establish a potentially irrecoverable advantage over one of their principal rivals.
Log on to live commentary of all the action from Scotland v Norway as the match unfolds at Hampden todayThe full article contains 1016 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
