Does Gilmour have to start in Scotland’s midfield?

At half-time at Hampden Park on Thurday night, Neil McCann turned to fellow former Scotland interational Scott Brown during the BBC’s coverage and asked a question most in the stadium were probably pondering too.

Should Steve Clarke bring on Billy Gilmour?

The Napoli midfielder is thought of by many as Scotland’s most technically astute in the middle of the pitch but, like against Denmark last month, was left on the bench.

Gilmour came on in the 58th minute against Greece and, while the visitors scored four minutes later, his subtle influence on the game helped Scotland turn a flat performance into a rousing victory in testing circumstances.

With Lewis Ferguson and Ryan Christie suspended for the visit of Belarus, he will naturally now come into the team, but what about the critical games next month away to Greece and at home to Denmark?

When Kostas Tsimikas swept in Greece’s goal on 62 minutes, it followed a passage of play that involved Greece making 54 almost unchallenged passes over three minutes during which Andy Robertson’s glancing header to clear a cross was the only Scottish touch.

It typified the passiveness of the first hour.

“I wonder whether Steve will look at bringing Billy Gilmour on,” McCann had already said at the break.

“I don’t think it’s worked with Ryan [Christie] and Lewis [Ferguson] playing really narrow and deep, because they’ve not got on it. We’ve not been able to build the game going through.”

Gilmour did not come on and suddenly grab the game by the scruff of the neck and change things on his own, but nonetheless his influence was there after Christie’s equaliser.

His first real opportunity to get his head up and pass was on 69 minutes and he fired it through a tight space to Ferguson, whose first-time pass round the corner just evaded Che Adams as Scotland sprung forward quickly.

Gilmour’s clever free-kick also teed up Adams for a good chance at 1-1 and he ended up with five passes into the final third during his half hour on the pitch.

Only Robertson and Ferguson had more – and they played nearly the full game.

“I think Billy Gilmour coming on was pivotal in terms of us getting hold of the ball,” McCann said at full-time on BBC Scotland’s Sportscene.

“He was instrumental in the cross-field pass which Tsimikas takes out Ferguson when he eventually scores.”

As McCann described, Gilmour’s prints were on the build-up to the second goal as his positioning allowed Grant Hanley to find a pass to him between two Greece players.

He turned and moved it forward to Christie, got it back, moved the ball to Robertson, before executing the crucial pass once McTominay returned it to him.

The images from Opta show Gilmour (black number eight) anchored the Scotland midfield for the final half hour, staying right in the heart of the pitch when that space was previously unoccupied.

And not only did it allow him to get on the ball, but it freed up Ferguson and Christie to push further forward, with the former vastly improving as the game wore on.

Ferguson was able to get up around the penalty area, winning the important free-kick in the lead up to his goal, using the attributes he has shown for Bologna.

Gilmour also won the ball back three times, as many as any other Scotland player.

Gilmour is not a first pick under Antonio Conte at Napoli, with Stanislav Lobotka the Italian’s preferred holding midfielder when fit.

The 24-year-old has started only once for the Serie A champions this season, but Ferguson and Christie are not playing 90 minutes every week either right now.

What the latter two bring that Gilmour does not is running power and greater physicality, something that was crucial in the draw in Copenhagen to start the campaign.

Clarke is known for his loyalty and, against a technically accomplished Greece side, probably knew Scotland would need to do their fair share of defending and chasing the ball.

“You have to understand how hard we worked out of possession,” the Scotland head coach pointed out after the game.

The Belarus game at Hampden, where Scotland will dominate the ball, is tailor-made for Gilmour.