McCoist aims dig at Henderson amid England backlash - 'With all due respect'
Ally McCoist has claimed that Jordan Henderson would have no chance of getting into Scotland's team, despite the midfielder continuing to play a key role for England.
Henderson played all 90 minutes of the Three Lions' drab draw with Ukraine, with boss Gareth Southgate refusing to dump the 33-year-old. That is despite him now playing for Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq, following a summer move from Liverpool.
Many view the Saudi top-flight as being a third-rate league, far from the quality of Europe's top divisons where Henderson's rivals for a starting spot play. McCoist would appear to agree with that assessment as he delivered a withering verdict on the former Reds skipper.
The Rangers legend insisted that Henderson would have no place in Scotland's starting XI, amid their resurgence under Steve Clarke. McCoist believes that Henderson would struggle to replace Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, John McGinn and Billy Gilmour.
"That's a great question," he told talkSPORT when asked if Henderson would start for Scotland. "And I'm going to tell you right now, I hope Jordan's not listening. No, he's not getting in it. Our midfield and the left side of defence is the strongest area of the team.
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"With all due respect. I think we've got better forwards than we've had before but not at the elite level. Defensively, we're far better than we've been but perhaps not at the elite level, our strongest part of the team is midfield and left central defence with Tierney and Robertson.
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Jordan Henderson has been told he would have no place in Scotland's team (Dave Howarth - CameraSport via Getty Images)"Is he getting in ahead of McTominay, McGregor, McGinn and Gilmour? I'm struggling to leave any one of them out right now at this moment in time. Cearly Jordan Henderson would get games for Scotland, there's no doubt about it, but right now in current form, I'm struggling to leave any of those four boys out."
Henderson's performance against Ukraine was widely criticised as England struggled to break down their hosts. But Southgate remains a firm backer of the midfielder, who has come under fire for his move to Saudi.
"I don't pick the team based on external reaction, as I'm sure you're aware over the course of the last seven years. He's a very experienced professional. He's very mature at handling any situation really," the Three Lions boss said.
"He's trained well this week, the whole group has, and everyone is available for us which is really pleasing. The physical outputs have been mixed because the climate has been different for different games, but he was in good physical condition.
"All of his data, he was hitting what he should have done. And his outputs on Saturday were the highest he has had at an England game. In terms of the job he was doing, he had to cover a lot of space. That midfield covered a lot of ground and closed a lot of spaces up."
Henderson is expected to be dropped for the clash with Scotland on Tuesday night as Southgate shuffles his pack. Kalvin Phillips is expected to come in for the Ettifaq captain in the midfield trio.
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