CRAIG LEVEIN was ridiculed for picking a Scotland team that had no strikers.
I can’t help but think Gordon Strachan could be forgiven for going with a 4-6-0 formation against Slovenia at Hampden.
The wee man probably won’t do it. He’ll be thinking of the way Levein got hammered that night in the Czech Republic in 2010.
But there’s definitely an argument that now is the time to adopt that approach.
It was a mistake when Levein did it, purely because he had good, on-form strikers to choose from at the time.
But Strachan doesn’t. Leigh Griffiths and Jordan Rhodes can finish with the best of them.
Chris Martin is a decent targetman, and Steven Fletcher’s hold-up play is top notch.
But trust me, these guys aren’t playing enough at the moment to be as sharp as you need to be in international football.
Rhodes is the one who is getting more games than the rest, but does anyone really expect Strachan to pick him for this must-win game?
I think the wee man will have given some thought to picking a team without an out-and-out striker.
Midfield is where we’re strong. We have more than enough players who are good in the middle third of the pitch.
So there’s a real argument to say we should flood the midfield like Levein tried in Prague.
I’ve written it before, but the conundrum for Scottish football at the moment is that we’re not creating defenders, and we’re not creating strikers.
Our clubs are bursting with neat and tidy footballers, but we don’t have enough players who are top-class in the penalty box.
Strachan has probably picked about 10 different teams and formations in his head in the past few weeks.
He’ll have spent every waking moment going through possible permutations. The problem is, he needs to get this decision right.
Strachan says that himself, because there’s no hiding how vital this match is.