He performed heroics against Russia on Friday, now Wigan stopper David Marshall has to turn in another great performance for Scotland against Belgium.
The goalkeeper was easily Scotland’s best player against Russia. Whilst his side may have lost 2-1, without Marshall, it could’ve been a whole lot worse.
Now they take on Belgium, where victory is the only way Scotland can recover their Euro 2020 qualification hopes via the groups.
Latics stopper Marshall will be key to that.
Marshall will be up against it
Fingertip saves over the bar, short range parries and reflex stops, Marshall pulled out all the works against Russia. He was simply brilliant and prevented the Russians from thumping his side.
At his new club Wigan, things haven’t got off to the best of starts. He’s conceded 12 in five games, keeping one clean sheet. His game has been riddled with niggly errors, but against QPR especially, he was really poor.
His positioning was poor for the Loftus Road side’s first goal, failing to deal with a cross before not adjusting himself to deal with a shot. Their second was a free kick that went right through him and again his positioning was questionable for their third.
In a Scotland shirt at least, he’s been decent. Russia had 17 shots at goal with six on target at Hampden (BBC) and Marshall dealt with the dangers that came his way pretty well.
Coming up against the world class Belgians now, he’ll be up against it again. They will put Scotland under sustained pressure throughout the match, and should Marshall have an off day, it could end horribly for his nation.
If Steve Clarke is to have any success against the Belgians, he needs Marshall to have an outstanding match.