Alex McLeish has told his Scotland players they have to be more street-wise in their future Euro 2008 qualifiers - or continue to suffer at the hands of referees.
The Scots suffered a 2-0 defeat to Italy in Bari on Wednesday night, a Luca Toni double providing the victory for the world champions.
McLeish believes the reverse was largely down to the number of free-kicks his players conceded in dangerous areas, with Toni's 12th-minute opener coming from a set-piece.
The Scotland boss insists some of the decisions made by Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere would never have been given on British soil.
And he admits his own players will have to be just that little bit smarter when they are back on the road again.
He said: "We know, having watched many, many international games, when you go away from home, body contact of any kind is not allowed.
"In the British game, a lot of the challenges from my players wouldn't have been free-kicks.
"It's something we were aware of and it's something we spoke about and we know that we have to be a bit cuter."
Scotland remain at the top of Group B, albeit level on points with both France and the Ukraine, following the latter's win over Lithuania on Wednesday.
But, despite suffering a slight set-back in their qualification quest, McLeish insists he does not have too many complaints about how his players acquitted themselves in Italy.
He said: "We had some information from the Italian papers over the last two or three weeks.
"We kind of knew what the Italian team would be so the team wasn't a surprise to us at all and we prepared well for it.
"I'm very happy with the response I've had from my players over the last two games, the commitment was tremendous.
"The only thing wrong in Italy was the result."
McLeish added: "I felt there were times when we kept the ball well and we went forward well in numbers, which was the game-plan.
"That was the reason why I played an attacking midfielder, rather than a defensive midfielder.
"We felt we wanted to have a go and show a bit of purpose against the world champions and we finished the first half very well, very strongly.
"I really felt the Italians' biggest threat was from the free-kicks in the first half."
McLeish believes the reverse was largely down to the number of free-kicks his players conceded in dangerous areas, with Toni's 12th-minute opener coming from a set-piece.
The Scotland boss insists some of the decisions made by Belgian referee Frank De Bleeckere would never have been given on British soil.
And he admits his own players will have to be just that little bit smarter when they are back on the road again.
He said: "We know, having watched many, many international games, when you go away from home, body contact of any kind is not allowed.
"In the British game, a lot of the challenges from my players wouldn't have been free-kicks.
"It's something we were aware of and it's something we spoke about and we know that we have to be a bit cuter."
Scotland remain at the top of Group B, albeit level on points with both France and the Ukraine, following the latter's win over Lithuania on Wednesday.
But, despite suffering a slight set-back in their qualification quest, McLeish insists he does not have too many complaints about how his players acquitted themselves in Italy.
He said: "We had some information from the Italian papers over the last two or three weeks.
"We kind of knew what the Italian team would be so the team wasn't a surprise to us at all and we prepared well for it.
"I'm very happy with the response I've had from my players over the last two games, the commitment was tremendous.
"The only thing wrong in Italy was the result."
McLeish added: "I felt there were times when we kept the ball well and we went forward well in numbers, which was the game-plan.
"That was the reason why I played an attacking midfielder, rather than a defensive midfielder.
"We felt we wanted to have a go and show a bit of purpose against the world champions and we finished the first half very well, very strongly.
"I really felt the Italians' biggest threat was from the free-kicks in the first half."
Copyright (c) Press Association
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