Scotland v Switzerland: Fouls look sweet at 16s | OneFootball

Scotland v SwitzerlandWednesday 19 June, 20:00Live on BBC1

There have been a lot of comments from the Scottish camp about the need to put things right after Friday's embarrassing 5-1 thrashing by Germany but talk is cheap.

What they need to do is put things into action and deliver a performance.

Boss Steve Clarke suggested he'd overloaded his players with information ahead of the Germany match and so there's every chance it's a back-to-basics approach for a game they simply can't afford to lose.

That will mean doing the things that worked so well during qualifying - getting the likes of Scott McTominay and John McGinn into threatening positions, pushing the wing-backs up to provide attacking threat and getting about the opposition when out of possession.

None of those things really happened on Friday.

While I'm not convinced they will be able to do it successfully - the Swiss were decent winners against Hungary in their first game - what the Scots can control is their commitment levels and I'm sure they'll be keen to show their army of fans that this means everything.

Certainly Andy Robertson spoke about the need to be "a lot more aggressive".

Leg 1: Scott McTominay to commit 1+ foul

Fouls are therefore the angle again - they helped this column nail a 13/27.50 winner in the Germany game.

I'll happily back McTominay again to commit a foul, something he's now managed in 10 of his last 12 internationals, plus eight of his last nine starts for Manchester United.

His performance against the Germans was one of those particularly criticised and so I'd expect him to be snapping into a few challenges.

Leg 2: Callum McGregor to commit 1+ foul

The same can be said of Callum McGregor, who committed two fouls against Germany.

The midfielder committed 11 fouls in his last five league games for Celtic this season and was also booked for a foul in the Scottish Cup final.

He looks a decent price for another foul here - 4/71.57.

I'll also add Anthony Ralston for a foul.

Third choice to fill the right wing-back position, Ralston was booked against Germany as he committed a foul for the third time in four starts for his country.

The Celtic defender may well be targeted here given his inexperience at this level, not to mention a general lack of game time at his club.

He'll be up against Michel Aebischer, a star and goalscorer in Switzerland's matchday one victory, and so looks in for another tough evening.

Leg 4: Anthony Ralston to be fouled 2+ times

I also very much like the prices of Ralston in the 'to be fouled' market.

He's 9/43.25 to be fouled at least twice and that looks great business.

He landed this against Germany, and in the recent Finland friendly, while he also has great numbers on this front in club football, being fouled 17 times in his six starts for Celtic this season.

Leg 5: Scott McTominay to be fouled 1+ time

To complete a five-legged Bet Builder, I also want McTominay to be fouled 1+ time back onside.

With the United man having been fouled twice against Germany, he's now landed this in his last nine Scotland appearances.

At this stage, it's worth pointing out that Scotland were the second most-fouled team in qualifying (13.13 per game) and the Swiss committed 13 fouls against Hungary on Saturday.

Finally, let's mention the referee, always crucial to a fouls-based bet.

Slovak Ivan Kruzliak is the man with the whistle and he was slightly above average for fouls per game in this season's Champions League and Europa League competitions.

In international football, his foul counts since the start of 2022 have been (most recent first) 16-29-33-26-23-49, the latter including extra time.

Those are good-looking numbers for those counting on fouls in this game.

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