George Burley has expressed his disappointment at the number of withdrawals from his squad as Scotland prepare to take on World Cup qualifiers Japan at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on Saturday.
Amid a growing furore within the host nation over the absence of 10 players from the squad originally named by Burley, the former Ipswich and Southampton boss apologised for bringing a weakened party to Japan, but the manager stressed there was little he could do and laid part of the blame for the situation on the rough and tumble of football in Britain.
"I'm an international manager and I think I'm the most disappointed because I've lost a number of very good players," said Burley. "I've lost four players at the weekend because of injuries. Then we had four players who came and two of them trained but they were struggling with injuries. Two players couldn't train after the weekend."
He added: "British football is very competitive and you get knocks. I'm the most disappointed, I want the strongest team but what it does it allows me to play some of the younger players and some who haven't been involved before.
"So we're very disappointed. I wanted to bring those 22 players that I picked originally but unfortunately I couldn't because of injury.
"We had an Old Firm game on the weekend and we all know they can be very bruising."
Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher and Tottenham defender Alan Hutton pulled out of the trip at the last minute to join Scott Brown, Shaun Maloney, Danny Fox, Kevin Thomson, Steven Naismith, Robert Snodgrass and Garry O'Connor on the absentees list.
Those pull-outs were in addition to the loss of James McFadden, Ross McCormack, Chris Iwelumo, Kenny Miller, James Morrison, Kris Commons and Gary Naysmith who were not even named in the original squad.
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Inverkenny, it is George and not Craig. A wee freudian slip me thinks. I thank you.
Get rid of the backroom staff first, only in it for the cash and do not want to rock the boat. Then replace the manager, who has less credentials than most of the players on the pitch. So who respects who? There is no thought for the best supporters in the World, who will follow Scotland anywhere. Reminds me of the sort of backstabbing and money grabbing reminiscent of Braveheart, even though this was a wee bit fabricated, I hope you see my point.
inverkenny I do not agree, I think Burley and the SFA particularly Gordon SMith are horrible for the game. You cant expect professionals to risk waht sad careers they have to travel half way around the world for a @#$% match against @#$% opposition with a @#$% team led by a @#$% manager. Why have Scotland had very little success since the days of "Yabadabadoo we support the boys in blue". Smith, the SFA and Burley are responsbile for the lack of success. Let heads roll, but to come down on players for an injury risk for a game that means nothing is not the answer. Look at the SFA , they wouldnt even let the Champions League qualifiers sit out a domestic game to get ready to compete like the REAL Euro leagues allow their home teams to do. The SFA Is a @#$% organization and till it changes Scotland will be @#$%.
oh come on, football is football, Craig stop pulling the wool over your eyes, i dont envy you your job, these players are not injured, how many times does this happen when a friendly comes around, lets just see how many of these players are playing for their clubs after this friendly, i'll say nine out of ten, the country doesn't seem to care, but if you dont win your first qualifying game they will want your head, that's what i find quite sad about this nation, they should stop getting on at the manager and the SFA and start getting on to those players who continually let us down. how about sacking them.
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