Scotland impress no one on rise to the top

There's no easy games in international football anymore eh?

Lithuania are obstinate brutes who will exploit every trick in the book (and a lax referee) to boot their opponents out of the game. Liechtenstein can score a slick goal if you go to sleep. Poor Scotland - seeking form, fortune and a reason to believe in themselves again - have been put through the mill this week.

Still, Lithuania's win over the Czech Republic changes everything. On the one hand, it allowed Scotland to go top of the group with four points - never mind that it's a false position. But next up it's... the Czech Republic, who'll be looking to smack Scotland and make up for lost points.

So Craig Levein has a lot of work to do between now and then, because there are question marks all over the pitch. The manager has also showed himself to be worryingly sensitive to outside influences, appearing to change the formation for Liechtenstein in response to criticism that his team wasn't attack-minded enough.

But just because you've got more strikers on the pitch, it doesn't mean your team will be any better going forward - a basic lesson that any half-decent manager should have learnt long before they get near a technical area. Football is all about possession, and 4-5-1 isn't necessarily more defensive than 4-4-2.

The curse of injuries makes it difficult, but what Scotland need is a settled system, where everyone from keeper to centre forward knows their roles and what needs to be done.

Levein has bought himself time to try and do this. Here's hoping he finds the right solution.

Levein faces first real test

Qualifying for Euro 2012 starts tonight, ready or not. Hold your breath, Scotland.

The striking thing about Craig Levein's first team for a competitive fixture is the strength of the Rangers contingent, with Alan McGregor between the sticks, David Weir back in at centre half and Kenny Miller leading the line.

Most of these decisions are explicable - with Craig Gordon injured, picking a keeper is a judgement call between various candidates of lesser ability, and if McGregor is allowed a second chance then it might as well be in this game. Weir is old but has experience, though partnering him with the slow Steven McManus might just be asking for trouble. We'd much prefer Christophe Berra in there instead.

Kenny Miller earns the right to show if his goal-scoring start to the domestic season can be replicated in dark blue.

But elsewhere, the old injury curse has struck again, giving cause for chewed fingernails everywhere. With Lee Wallace out, Levein has chosen to move Steven Whittaker to left back and bring Alan Hutton in at right back.

Is Hutton fit? He's barely played for Spurs so this is a big ask, while putting the right-footed Whittaker on the left makes you wonder where the balance and width will come from. In midfield, only Barry Robson is left footed, and he's not a winger. There is a real fear that Scotland could be pulled out of shape this evening.

We're also relying on Lee McCulloch to do the holding job in midfield, another cause of worry. He's filled in there plenty for Rangers but international football demands a little more class and guile - Barry Ferguson, re-invented as a solely defensive midfielder at Birmingham, will be missed.

And then there's the reliance on Steven Naismith, too, who's hardly convinced in a Scotland shirt. Why not Graham Dorrans, who has been impressing so much at West Brom.

Having said all that, Lithuania ain't great, and Scotland shouldn't panic.

Fingers crossed, eh?

Levein hopes for a fresh start

Scotland kick off under another new manager tonight, as Craig Levein appears in the dug out for the first time for the friendly against the Czech Republic.

As the Czech Republic are also in Scotland's qualifying group for Euro 2012, both sides will put a little more importance on this knock about than usual.

The build up has, of course, been all about Levein's willingness to invite the Rangers bad boys back into the fold. He's extended invites to all of them, but only Kris Boyd will be involved this evening - Barry Ferguson apparently has a bye until next season, Lee McCulloch is injured, and Alan McGregor is helping the police with their inquiries / injured too.

And Boyd will be starting on the bench, both because Kenny Miller is the designated man for the "run about on your own up front and see if anything happens" role, and probably because there's a little public penance he has to pay before being inevitably summoned to take to the field.

We're pretty pragmatic about all this - it's true that Scotland have a limited pool of talent to choose from, so can't afford to exclude people for past misdemeanours.

But we'd distinguish between these four. Ferguson has been in fine form for Birmingham this season, and if he was as willing to play the holding midfield role for Scotland - rather than start strutting around the park like a cockerel - then he could definitely play a role. Boyd, meanwhile, is Scotland's best finisher, and has shown a little more to his game this season.

But McCulloch and MacGregor are both liabilities, and there are better players in their positions. Levein should move on.