Vogts eager to arrest Scotland's shabby starts

In his quest to create an atmosphere conducive to the "high-tempo football" he demands from Scotland, Berti Vogts yesterday promised his players would do "something special" before today's Group Five fixture against Iceland. One way guaranteed to stir something resembling the Hampden Roar is for the Scots to try the novel policy, so far alien to the Vogts era, of producing something special during the match.

The German came over all coy and secretive when asked what his players would do to whip up their followers. Winning, preferably with a modicum of style, would do the trick for most Scotland supporters, although a run of 10 games that has brought seven defeats and only two victories means Vogts would settle for three points and some of the "passion" he complains has too often been missing during his 13-month reign.

With an away game against Lithuania to follow next Wednesday, Scotland appear to have an ideal opportunity to double their tally of wins under Vogts and plant one foot firmly in the play-offs for Euro 2004. Even allowing for the fact that Iceland stand two places above them at 61st in Fifa's world rankings, Atli Edvaldsson's side is drawn from a population roughly the size of Aberdeen while Lithuania have yet to blossom after a decade as an independent football nation.

But Scotland, as everyone from Costa Rica to Estonia is aware, have a habit of coming unstuck when expected to prevail. Repeating their October success in Reykjavik, where they showed the flip side of that tendency, is therefore unlikely to come easily. Having seen how swiftly they succumbed to the Republic of Ireland at Hampden six weeks ago, Vogts has targeted several psychological factors in the hope of stimulating an improvement.

He is particularly anxious for Scotland to start better; of the 21 goals conceded by Scotland during his reign, 11 have come in the opening 20 minutes. So now the squad will arrive at the stadium an hour and 45 minutes before kick-off, compared with the previous 70 minutes; they will have an intense warm-up on the pitch; and no tonsular slacking will be accepted during the singing of "Flower of Scotland".

Cosmetic considerations aside, Scotland have to impose themselves on Iceland immediately. They must avoid sitting as deep as they did in the home defeat by Denmark and resist the long balls from the back to which they resorted against the Irish. The onus will be on Paul Lambert and Barry Ferguson, Vogts' midfield axis, to spread the play and pick out strikers' runs.

Don Hutchison is earmarked for a starting role alongside Stevie Crawford up front. His selection would be a gamble, both in terms of a lack of first-team action at West Ham United and the claims of Kenny Miller, who has 15 goals from 15 games with Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yet Hutchison combines guile and physical presence in measures found in few of Vogts' side; Miller, for all the pace and confidence that will doubtless see him come on as a substitute, is unproven internationally.

Scotland's other priority will be to subdue the one obvious match-winner in either line-up, Eidur Gudjohnsen. It is hard to imagine that the Chelsea player, or indeed Iceland, could perform as mundanely as in the first meeting, especially when, as Vogts cautioned, the game represents their "last chance".

Should the Scots win, their more headstrong fans will imagine taking first place above Germany, whom they have still to encounter. Their manager, not so keen to fuel expectations that he is prepared to don the madcap mantle of Ally MacLeod, protested that a play-off place remained the pinnacle of their ambitions.

SCOTLAND (3-5-2; probable): Douglas (Celtic); Pressley (Heart of Midlothian), Dailly (West Ham), Wilkie (Dundee); Devlin (Birmingham City), Lambert (Celtic), Cameron (Wolves), Ferguson (Rangers), Naysmith (Everton); Hutchison (West Ham), Crawford (Dunfermline).

ICELAND (4-5-1; probable): Arason (Rosenborg); Thorsteinsson (Molde), Bergsson (Bolton Wanderers), Sigurdsson (West Bromwich Albion), Vidarsson (Lokeren); Gunnarsson (Stoke City), Ingimarsson (Wolves, on loan to Brighton), J Gudjonsson (Real Betis, on loan to Aston Villa), Einarsson (Lillestrom), Kristinsson (Lokeren); Gudjohnsen (Chelsea).

Referee: R Temmink (Netherlands).