Scotland Men's Football Team

Image source, PA Media

Former Premiership midfielders Scott Allan and Andy Halliday expect a change of shape from Scotland in Friday's second World Cup Group C fixture against Morocco.

The Scots opened with a 1-0 win against Haiti, courtesy of John McGinn's deflected goal, while Morocco drew 1-1 with Brazil.

Scotland started in a 4-4-2 against Haiti and former Celtic and Hibernian player Allan told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast: "We won't see the 4-4-2 against Morocco.

"You'd expect one of the strikers to drop out. [Substitute Ryan] Christie came in just for his energy out of possession. I think [Lawrence] Shankland will drop out.

"When I watched the Morocco-Brazil game I thought it looked, especially first half, full of energy, legs, pace. If we're just losing possession as we were against Haiti then it could be a really, really tough night.

"Can we just defend really well because we ain't going to have most of the ball? If you aren't going to have the ball against Haiti, you aren't going to have the ball against Morocco."

Ex-Hearts, Motherwell and Rangers player Halliday agrees, saying: "I fully expect a change of shape. Will it be a 4-5-1 or do we go to that five at the back that Steve Clarke's deployed so often?

"We've got five centre-halves at the World Cup, we've got three right-backs at the World Cup, we've got Kieran Tierney, who I think over the past, such is his quality, we would always try and fit him into a team.

"I don't think we can give Morocco the amount of space we gave Haiti and expect to get a positive result at the end of it.

"It's whether we play that extra midfielder to try and get us a little bit more control of the ball when we win it back. Or do we play that extra centre-half to give us that wee bit more cover at the back and allow us to defend our box, which I must say I do think we've done extremely well against Haiti."

Image source, Reuters

Winger Ben Gannon-Doak is a player Scotland have been craving for decades.

That's the verdict of former Motherwell, Hearts and Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday, who praised the 20-year-old winger's excitement factor after Gannon-Doak shone in the 1-0 World Cup win over Haiti.

"He's such an important player for Scotland. In my lifetime, I don't think we've had a player like Gannon-Doak," Halliday told the BBC's Scottish football podcast.

"He gets bums off seats every time he gets the ball, he offers so much excitement in that final third for Scotland.

"Everything doesn't come off all the time for Gannon-Doak, or any winger in world football, but it's that fearlessness, it's that intent. Every time he gets the ball he wants to try and make the difference, get at the full-back and create something.

"He did that extremely well. And you look at our best chances, particularly in the first half, everything came down that right-hand side for Gannon-Doak.

"So for me, you talk about first names on the teamsheet, he's a must play."

The 20-year-old who stole the show on Scotland's World Cup return

We asked for your views after Scotland began the World Cup with a nervy 1-0 win over Haiti to sit top of Group C.

Here are some of your comments:

David: Important win but a really poor performance against one of the poorest teams at the World Cup. Worrying how we were unable to dictate play or have any real periods of superiority. Scoring only one goal might cost us a chance of progressing. Huge improvement required for Morocco game.

Andy: Poor game but the result was what mattered. I only hope the lack of goals doesn't come back to bite us just like in '74.

Sally: It was not pretty to watch and fans will have shorter fingernails today. Morocco and Brazil will definitely be sterner tests. Great to see young Findlay Curtis being involved and he did not look overawed. Hopefully the team will relax and play better against Morocco.

Jim: A win, yes, but I am not getting carried away as we fell far short of what we are capable of. We gave the ball away far too often, Angus Gunn looked very shaky in goal and we will need a confident man between the posts for our next two matches otherwise it could be a disastrous outcome. Haiti are not a top team but they made us look very ordinary. I hope this will be our worst performance and the next two matches show us in much better form.

Gerry: Predictable, too slow in the build-up, didn't take care of the ball enough, ponderous. But how many times have we been the hard luck story when playing better? Delighted and I'll take it - really need to up it for the next two group games.

Opta have updated their predictions for Scotland's World Cup campaign after Steve Clarke's side went top of Group C with a 1-0 win over Haiti.

According to Opta, it is very likely Scotland will advance to their first ever World Cup knockout stage.

Their chance of winning that historic first knockout game and reaching the last 16? 29.06%.

Then what about the rest of the tournament? Here's what Opta thinks:

• Quarter-final: 10.25%

• Semi-final: 3.12%

• Final: 1.04%

• Champions? 0.3%

What does 1-0 win mean for Scotland's chances of qualification?

• Scotland won their opening match at the World Cup for the third time (also 1974 and 1982). All three times they won their first match they were top of the group after one matchday with all three groups also featuring Brazil.

• This was Scotland's fifth World Cup win, their first since a 2-1 victory over Sweden in 1990 – also their first ever with only one goal scored in the tournament.

• Scotland have kept a clean sheet for the fourth time in a World Cup match (W2 D2) – three of them were against opponents from the Americas, including this 1-0 win over Haiti and 0-0 draws against Uruguay in 1986 and Brazil in 1974.

• Angus Gunn is the third Scottish goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet at the World Cup, following David Harvey (twice in 1974) and Jim Leighton (1986).

• Haiti recorded their best defensive performance in goals conceded (1), shots faced (9), shots on target faced (2) and expected goals conceded (1.05) in their four-match history in the World Cup.

• At 31 years, 238 days old, John McGinn is the oldest player to score for Scotland at the World Cup, surpassing Kenny Dalglish (31y 103d) v New Zealand in 1982.

• Scotland had more possession (59% to 41%) and total attempts (6 to 3) until McGinn opened the scoring. However, after the 29th minute, Haiti dominated possession (60% to 40%) and had more total shots (12 to 3).

• Andy Robertson led Scotland in touches (68), passes in the final third (18) and line-breaking passes in the final third (6). He also had Scotland's joint-most chances created (2).