Ketsbaia out to make life difficult for Scotland

Georgia boss Temuri Ketsbaia has warned Scotland they are not good enough to take victory against his side in Glasgow tomorrow for granted.

Gordon Strachan’s side host Georgia at Ibrox on Saturday with a confident look about them.

A run of just one defeat — and that to world champions Germany — in the last seven has got the Tartan Army believing they can qualify for Euro 2016.

But ahead of the Group D qualifier, former Newcastle and Dundee maverick Ketsbaia tore a strip off those writing off his men.

He said: “I’ve been manager for five years and we have played much better teams than Scotland.

“If you see our games we are maybe not winning but we don’t make it easy for anybody.

“If they feel confident that is their problem, not our problem. I don’t think Scotland are better than Spain, France, Croatia, Greece or any other team that played in the finals or won World Cups or European Championships.

“I’m expecting my players to go out and prove them wrong.

“We have been written off since the beginning in Scotland. They said that the only teams who are not playing for the finals are Georgia and Gibraltar. That is their opinion.”

Like Scotland in Dortmund last month, the Georgians lost their opening qualifier when ex-Celtic winger Aiden McGeady struck a sensational last-gasp winner to seal a 2-1 win for Martin O’Neill’s Ireland in Tbilisi.

And their manager admits defeat for either his side or the Scots is now unthinkable as they chase a place in the finals in France.

“It’s not a must-win game,” he said. “But it is a game you cannot lose.”

However, Ketsbaia — who has twice played at Ibrox, first with Dundee in February 2002 and then with Cypriot outfit Anorthosis Famagusta three years later — denied he would find his job in jeopardy if he did not walk out of Govan clutching three points.

“I’ve heard about this,” said Ketsbaia when asked if he was under pressure. “I said after the Ireland game, when we lost, that if we didn’t get the results in the next two games maybe it would be time for me to go.

“But I don’t feel pressure. Nobody has told me that this is my last game.”

Strachan, meanwhile, will exercise his right of reply to Roy Keane’s book comments after the double-header against Georgia and Poland.

In his new autobiography, Keane said defiance underpinned his move to Celtic in January 2006, as he claimed that then Hoops boss Strachan was less than enthusiastic.

Keane said: "I met Gordon Strachan in London at Dermot Desmond's (Celtic majority shareholder) house.

“Gordon told me ‘I’m not really worried if you sign for us or not. We’re okay without you’.

“He was letting me know he wasn’t desperate for me; he was being a bit coy. But there was a bit of defiance from me.”

At his media conference ahead of tomorrow’s game Strachan laughed when asked what he thought about the Aston Villa assistant manager’s comments.

He said: “I think he is fantastic. I get on great with him.

“I have no idea what he said in his book, I am sure I will have a look but we get on smashing together.

“But this is not the right time to talk about his book. Come and see me in two weeks’ time and we can talk about it when I have had time to read it.

“But I am sure it is interesting reading. It is always good fun and also it is a bit tongue in cheek with Roy at times.”