Scotland vs England: Scotland is no mere friendly game for Roy Hodgson

England manager says facing hostile atmosphere will be good test for team

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (right), who came on as a substitute against Slovenia, is a strong contender to start against Scotland (REX)

After victory over Slovenia on Saturday night Roy Hodgson was reminded of that line from his most famous predecessor in the job, Sir Alf Ramsey, ahead of an England game against Scotland in Glasgow in 1968. “Welcome to Scotland, Sir Alf,” was as far as the Scottish reporter in question got before he was interrupted. “You must be f****** joking,” Ramsey snapped.

It should be said that Hodgson was laughing when it was recounted to him, and he is no stranger to that kind of fruity language when the mood takes him. In those days, of course, Scotland was a preoccupation for a manager such as Ramsey, who was steeped in the Home Nations culture. By contrast, Hodgson tends to look south, to Europe, for his football heritage. Even so, he knows one thing about Tuesday’s game at Celtic Park: it is more than just a friendly.

There are not many places England visit that inspire the contempt Glasgow promises. The English football public usually do a pretty good job of providing that themselves via their love-hate relationship with the national team. Otherwise, there are no major rivalries with the big European superpowers like Spain and Germany that go beyond an English inferiority complex. And in places like Estonia, England’s players are treated like celebrities.

Scotland, however, gives them something different and on Saturday night it was impossible not to conclude that Hodgson saw great value in it. “We know that is going to be a tough game,” he said, “and a game like that in Scotland will probably tell me a little bit more about this team.”

Group E of Euro 2016 qualification has become the cake walk for England everyone expected with maximum points from the first four games and twice as many as the three teams beneath them. The draw for San Marino against Estonia on Saturday, the first European Championship qualifying point in the tiny republic’s history, goes to show the low quality of England’s opposition. After all, Estonia had previously beaten Slovenia.

The game against Scotland offers Hodgson a different kind of test for his young players. He looks almost certain to give Saido Berahino his debut at some point. Ross Barkley will figure, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Luke Shaw must be strong candidates to start the match. So too one of Calum Chambers and Nathaniel Clyne and, for Fraser Forster, also in with a chance of a cap, it will be a familiar ground in unfamiliar circumstances.

It is rare indeed that England experience this kind of hostile occasion – even at tournaments. The 2003 away game against Turkey in qualification for Euro 2004 springs to mind when one thinks of challenging away grounds, especially given away fans were banned because of trouble in Sunderland at the corresponding home fixture. Steve McClaren’s ill-starred Euro 2008 qualifying campaign featured hostile away trips to Croatia and Russia.

For Hodgson the game in Glasgow is the last of a fraught year. After a terrible World Cup finals, and then the recovery that began in Basel with the win over Switzerland, he might have been forgiven for wishing the Football Association had lined up an easier option than a resurgent Scotland on the back of a marvellous win over the Republic of Ireland. But at least this one has an edge to it. So far, none of the qualifiers since Switzerland has had.

Against Slovenia, the mood in the crowd could best be described as mild indifference until Jordan Henderson’s own goal before the hour spurred Hodgson’s players into action. That said, there was character about the response: the equaliser, a penalty from Wayne Rooney, and two goals from Danny Welbeck, the outstanding player. In the past England have been more feeble in adversity, especially with the pressure of playing at Wembley.

England twice had to come from a goal behind to beat Scotland in August last year and Gordon Strachan’s team look a lot further developed than that side of 15 months ago. The FA knows that serious consideration has to be given to England’s friendly opposition to ensure the team is tested between now and Euro 2016, hence the games against Italy in March and the Republic of Ireland in Dublin come June.

When it was put to Hodgson that Scotland’s 1-0 Euro 2016 qualifying win over Ireland on Friday night had, at times, featured the kind of challenges that looked like they belonged in Ramsey’s era he did acknowledge that tomorrow might be a bit different. “It will be. The Scottish fans are exceptional, especially at Celtic Park, where they are very good at supporting their team. It’s a fantastic atmosphere from watching [the Ireland game] on TV. That is all to the good. That is what we need. We have done all we can do in these first four qualifying games so we are reasonably satisfied with that but we know there is a long way to go before France 2016.”

Berahino is expected to make England debut against Scotland (Getty)

As for the importance of the game, he added: “I preach to the players that every time you play for England it is important. Whether it is San Marino, Germany, Brazil, or Scotland away. I don’t want them saying, ‘This is the one that counts’. I want them to say, ‘Listen, if I get a chance to put this shirt on and the coaching staff tell me what to do, I have to go out there and do it’.”

There will be changes to Hodgson’s team, hence his 26-man squad. Even before Saturday, Michael Carrick, Andros Townsend and Leighton Baines had gone home and Hodgson has given Joe Hart the rest of the international week off. That means there will be a degree of inexperience about this team, although Hodgson says he cannot afford to rest too many of his established names.

Will the generation of Henderson, Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Raheem Sterling, contemplating the gruelling December-January fixture programme, be up for this one? They may consider they have already paid back Hodgson something with five straight wins since Brazil. Scotland means much less to these young English players than it did to previous generations. But every game for this young England team tells their manager something.