SCOTT Brown’s tendency to play games in a manner akin to the Duracell bunny on steroids has been responsible for the midfielder establishing himself as an indispensable player for both his club and country.
The Celtic and Scotland midfielder, though, will resist the temptation to run flat out for the full 90 minutes against opponents who he believes will seek to use the stifling heat to their advantage here in Tbilisi this evening.
“Of course, they will,” the national team’s captain responded when asked if Georgia would attempt to use the high temperature to their advantage in the Euro 2016 qualifier in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena.
“They’ll try and keep the ball and make us defend more and try to press them, but when we’ve got the ball we’ll do the exact same to them. We’ve got the players who can make things happen in the blink of an eye.”
Gordon Strachan has stressed to his Scotland players they will need to curb their natural enthusiasm in a Group D encounter which will go a long way towards deciding whether they progress to the finals in France next summer.
Brown is, having recovered from a minor knee injury sustained at the weekend, certain to take his place alongside James Morrison as a deep-lying midfielder in the 4-2-3-1 formation his manager favours and has enjoyed considerable success deploying.
The 30-year-old confirmed his manager had driven home to his players in training this week they will have to conserve their energy if they hope to pick up three points away from home for the first time during this campaign.
“He wants us to relax more on the ball,” said Brown. “It doesn’t have to be attack, attack, attack. We have to keep control of the game and keep possession as well.
“The gaffer understands that we’re going to get tired during games. You can’t keep sprinting around at 120 miles-per-hour for the whole 90 minutes, so he understands that you need to get your rest. You can’t play all the time at high tempo.
“Sometimes they will have the ball and as long as we defend and make it hard for them and stay in our shape we should be okay. It won’t be difficult for me.
"It helps because it saves your energy. If we need to press as a team, we’ll all go together instead of having individuals going so that they can pick us off.”
Brown, who will win his 47th cap for his country tonight, has played in worse conditions than Scotland will experience tonight during his international career; he recalls a World Cup qualifier against Macedonia in Skopje back in 2008 being particularly exacting.
“That was nice and cool!” he said. “It was a two o’clock kick off. It was lovely. Me and Barry Robson in the middle of the park – that was two faces that looked like lobsters.
“We were knackered after the warm-up. It was hot, it was hard. We were dehydrated right away. They were used to playing in it. We turned up the day before trying to train in it and it was hard, but you just need to deal with it and learn as a team that we can’t go chasing them and to keep the ball better than we did that day.
“You just have to try to control the game more than anything, especially in midfield where we need to keep the ball better than we did against Ireland and not panic on the rack. But we’ve been used to that this year, with some of the games we’ve played in with Celtic, so that will definitely benefit us.”
Brown dismissed suggestions the game against a side languishing in second-bottom spot in Scotland’s section was a guaranteed three points. But he is convinced his side, with both Steven Fletcher and Leigh Griffiths available for selection, is capable of scoring here.
“It’s always hard, no matter who it is when you go away from home in the Euros,” he said. “We’ve got a good squad so we just need to keep producing results like we have been doing and playing the football we have been playing and hopefully that gives us a chance tomorrow night.
“But we believe we can score goals no matter if it’s away from home against the world champions or against Georgia. We have some great players and attacking minded players as well, so that helps us.”
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