FOOTBALL
SCOTLAND SAVAGED BY A ROOKIE SAYS FORMER WALES STAR
Former Wales star Robbie Savage
By Iain Macfarlane
FORMER Wales hero Robbie Savage watched teenage kid Aaron Ramsay outsmart Darren Fletcher and two rookie Championship strikers bully Scotland’s first-choice defenders.
Now retired international Savage reckons Scotland have a MASSIVE job on their hands to bounce back from this latest setback against a weakened but superior Welsh side.
Savage has earned a reputation as a no-holds barred Premiership class midfielder and as a Wales star played in the 4-0 win against Berti Vogts’ Scotland in 2004 .
Now he reckons the Scots have a hard road ahead if they are bounce back in international terms.
On Flecther’s failed duel with Ramsay he said: “‘Darren Fletcher is a fantastic player – far better than I’ll ever be – but what you want to see from him is taking his Man United form into Scotland matches.
“The clash of the day for me was the Fletcher v Ramsay contest. Ramsay took the game by the scruff of the neck and controlled the midfield battle.
“He was sensational and I don’t think you’ll ever see a better performance from a kid of that age in a Wales shirt.You looked at Scottish team and thought there were too many gaps between defence and midfield.‘Ramsay was allowed to get into that hole, turn and attack the back four.
‘It’s tough for Fletcher. No disrespect to anyone out there for Scotland, but when you are playing alongside the likes of Paul Scholes and the rest of the lads at Man United you know you can give them the ball in tight areas and you’ll get help.
“There was no cover from any of the midfielders. The front two for Scotland weren’t getting any support either.
Before this game boss Burley put his faith in Gary Caldwell and Stephen McManus to snuff out the Welsh threat but Savage observed : “‘I’ve only seen those two play in this game and I wasn’t aware of criticism they might have been getting at Celtic.
“I can only go on what I saw in this game and in the first half Church and Evans dominated them. Celtic is one of the biggest football clubs in the world and you want to see your two dominant centre-backs going to attack the ball and winning it.
‘Listen, I’m not knocking them because they are terrific players. But on this performance, two players from the lower echelons of the Championship have caused them huge problems.”
