Charlie Adam has refused to play the blame game as he prepares for the rematch with old foe Gareth Bale.
The Dundee-born midfielder had the finger pointed at him in the aftermath of Wales’ 2-1 victory over Scotland last October, amid suggestions that he failed to track Bale’s run and prevent him firing home the late clincher in Cardiff.
Adam has a chance to make amends when the countries go head-to-head once again at Hampden in the World Cup qualifying Group A return game.
However, speaking at the national stadium, the Stoke City playmaker didn’t exactly accept a guilty role in the lead-up to Bale’s wonder winner.
When the issue was raised, the 27-year-old replied: “That’s your opinion.
“That’s everyone in the press, they sell the papers and that’s the way it goes. I deal with it internally, that’s the way it is. The lads have taken the criticism that we got, fair or unfair.
“That’s done and dusted, it’s gone now. It’s a different game and a different challenge for us. We are ready and hope we can get three points. I thought we were OK until a certain stage in the game in Wales.
“We got a disallowed goal (from Steven Fletcher) that should have been a goal and that changes the game. That was hard for us to take.
“They got a penalty that probably was a penalty and he (Bale) had a wonder strike that went into the top corner that’s what happens.”
Adam and Bale have previous at club level, of course, clashing on a couple of occasions on the park. He conceded the Welsh wizard is a huge threat to the Scots tomorrow night, although not the only danger man.
“They have other players, they are not just a one-man team,” said the former Rangers, Blackpool and Liverpool player. Real Madrid and Barcelona are not one-man teams.
“They (Wales) have other players that are top players who play in the premiership. People keep saying it’s about Gareth Bale and he is up there, one of the best in the world at the moment.
“He is a top player and we will probably have a plan to stop him but they have other good players. It doesn’t matter if we stop him or he has an off-night. It doesn’t mean it will be an easier game for us.”
Adam stressed that Scotland will not be holding back in what will be new boss Gordon Strachan’s first competitive fixture in charge since taking over from Craig Levein.
“We have to go for it,” he declared.
“We are not in a good position in the group and if we want to do something then we better start on Friday night. We are a better team (than the points total suggests) but we are the only ones who can fix that.
“We will need to attack and we will do. It is a challenge. Everyone in Scotland thinks we can win, the players think we can win but it is going to be a tough match.”
One man who doesn’t think the Scots can win is former Welsh international Mickey Thomas. He described the current crop of players as the worst team ever to wear the dark blue.
Thomas was quoted as saying: “Let’s make no mistake about this this Scotland team is the worst they have ever had.”
Asked if he and his teammates would use those comments as motivation, Adam replied: “We will. That’s up to him, it’s his opinion.
“We will take that on the chin. That’s what Mickey is like and I know him quite well with him coming into Stoke so I will have a word or two with him when we get back.
“That was probably a little bit of kidology but we are ready for it, we have good players in the squad. It is about us, we don’t need to worry about what other people are saying.”
Meanwhile, former Wales goalkeeper Neville Southall has claimed their manager Chris Coleman could be out of a job if they lose at Hampden.
Speaking at Hampden where he was helping to publicise the match, Southall said: “It is a massive game for both countries, probably more so for us. Strachan will be given another chance if he loses, but I think with ours it (defeat) could nail the coffin for the manager, for us financially and for the fans.
“We are really struggling to get people in the door and when you have a player like Gareth Bale I find that hard to understand, so we really need to win this one.
“Personally, I wouldn’t sack him but if we lose this one there will be an awful lot of people queuing up to put a knife in his back. I think they should give him until the end of the campaign and have a look then, or give him another year.
“At the end of the day we have a certain number of players to choose from, you need stability and you need people to put things in place and he hasn’t had enough time.
“If you are in the job for a year you have players for five days over six games which is 30 days, it is really hard to build a successful business in 30 days or in 50 days.
“We need to give him a bit of time.”