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DANNY Mills believes Scotland’s best chance of success at Wembley is to hit England with the ‘full Braveheart experience’.
The 39-year-old, whose 19 caps for England included five appearances at the 2002 World Cup, is confident the Auld Enemy will prevail in the eagerly-awaited qualifier.
However, the former Norwich City, Leeds United and Manchester City defender reckons a passionate performance from the Scots right from the first whistle could knock the Three Lions off their stride.
He said: “If I was Gordon Strachan, I’d be in that dressing room saying, ‘look, you’re at Wembley, this is England, they love themselves a little bit and they think they’re better than you’. You’d go through all those things.
“But England are under massive pressure at the moment, their confidence is pretty fragile.
“So, if I was you, in the first five minutes, go at them hell for leather. Give them the full Braveheart experience.
“Stick balls in behind them, stick balls into the channels and close them down.
“If you can only do that for 10 or 15 minutes then it might get you on the front foot, it might just shock England.
“If Scotland turn up and say, ‘okay, let England have the ball’, let them get a bit of confidence and start playing around, then I think eventually they’ll probably lose the game.
“They’ve got to try to upset England from the very, very start.”
Mills reckons England could run away with the game if they can ease into a two-goal advantage in the early stages of a clash that has, as usual, captured the imagination of the Tartan Army.
MEDIOCRE
However, should the match go the other way and Scotland pull off the unexpected, the 39-year-old admits there could be ‘chaos’ south of the border amongst the fans and the ever-expectant media.
He commented: “The argument is how many Scottish players would get in the England team, how many Welsh players would get in the England team, how many Northern Irish players would get in the England team?
“Realistically, not that many is the answer.
“But, on the one-off occasions, you can raise your game, raise the standard of your play and the effort levels, and make some real big surprises.
“I think Graeme Souness said this week it’s basically two mediocre sides coming together. It’s a mediocre Scotland side and it’s a mediocre England side at the moment.
“England still probably shade it on paper but they’ve got to go out and prove it. If not, there will be chaos in England.”
Speaking to BBC Scotland, he added: “I hope it’s 5-0 to England – Gareth Southgate is a very good friend of mine – but I really don’t think that’s going to be the case.
“There is a lot of pressure on the England players, because they’re expected to win – and if they don’t, it will be pretty humiliating for them.”
