Chris Coleman today warned Aleksandar Kolarov that he should be more focused on the challenge of facing Gareth Bale than commenting on the Wales style of play.
Manchester City full-back Kolarov accused British teams of favouring a long-ball approach following Serbia’s 0-0 draw with Scotland on Saturday.
Ahead of tonight’s World Cup qualifier in Novi Sad, Coleman said: “If that’s his opinion, that’s up to him. How much has he seen of us? Has he watched all our games?
“It will be up to us that we keep Mr Kolarov busy. If Gareth plays on his side he’ll have to concentrate hard on his own style of play rather than worrying about us or Scotland or Ireland.”
Wales, who are missing the injured Craig Bellamy, Wayne Hennessey and Neil Taylor, have not scored in their previous five games.
Tottenham winger Bale is likely to pose their biggest goal threat and Coleman said: “They will double-up on him, use different tactics than they normally would to stop him. It’s clever and it’ll happen here. It’s nothing new for Gareth.”
Scotland are also struggling for goals but Kenny Miller insists he feels under no added pressure as their lone striker in the continuing absence of Steven Fletcher.
Without Sunderland forward Fletcher, who refuses to play under manager Craig Levein, Scotland looked short of firepower against Serbia.
“We’ve not got Steven but I don’t think it does put any extra pressure on the other strikers,” said Miller ahead of tonight’s game against Macedonia.
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“The situation has to go away, until Steven turns round and says he wants to play. I get asked this every single time and the answer is always the same — he doesn’t want to play. There’s nothing we can do about it.”
