Scotland boss Alex McLeish says 'player withdrawals are genuine'

Scotland manager Alex Mcleish insists there is "nothing sinister" about the players who have withdrawn from the squad with injuries.

McLeish's side are set to face Albania and Israel in the UEFA Nations League, live on Sky Sports, but the Scotland coach has had to contend with multiple players pulling out of the contest.

Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney returned to the Parkhead club with a hamstring tightness on Friday to become the ninth withdrawal ahead of the Group C1 game in Shkoder on Saturday night.

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Speaking ahead of the Albania match, McLeish said: "It is just something that is not in our control. It is a little bit of a freak.

"So it is not something sinister, if you are trying to find a story out of this there is nothing there. It is just bad luck, the boys have played to very high levels, they got pushed to the boundaries in training.

"They go to the red zone in training in certain moments and some of them pick up knocks and injuries and unfortunately for us we have had a lot of call-offs at the same time which is maybe extraordinary but there is nothing sinister in the it, it is all genuine injuries."

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In his original squad announcement, Mcleish had to name his side without Celtic striker Leigh Griffith and Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney due to fitness issues, while Crystal Palace's James McArthur recently retired from international football.

"Yes. Kieran was bursting to play," McLeish said. "John McGinn was bursting to play. As I said, there is nothing sinister, so you don't need to ask that question.

"The amount of players calling off has disrupted the squad in general but in saying that we have prepared the whole week, we know what to do.

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"Kieran was going to be in the team but we feel we have the players here to get us the results we need. Kieran was desperate to play for us.

"His attitude was fantastic. But the medical from the doctor and physios decreed that he had to pull out.

"We have to respect what the physios and doctor, that is why they are here. It is a pity to lose these guys but at the same time I have every confidence in the players that are on this trip."

McLeish revealed all the Celtic players in his squad who played for the Hoops on Livingston's artificial surface, which included, Tierney, James Forrest, Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie, on Sunday had turned up with tightness in their legs.

Kieran had a tightness in his hamstring and there was no doubt about it," McLeish added. "You can't mess about with these things. Right away he flagged it up. He nursed it over the week.

"We all thought it was due to the fact that Celtic played on Astroturf last week and there was a bit of tightness with all the Celtic guys."

When asked if Tierney had played on grass and not plastic pitch would he have been fit, McLeish said: "I don't know but the fact that the guys were tight, there is a difference playing on Astroturf.

"I don't want to criticise Astroturf pitches per se but the guys came with a little bit of tightness and we said that it would wear off. But Kieran seemed to linger."

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