Chris Sutton: Gordon Strachan doesn't want Scotland job, he is rude and fans are fed up with him

Scotland face Slovakia in Trnana this evening in World Cup qualifying Group F needing three points away from home after producing a wretched performance in drawing 1-1 with Lithuania at Hampden Park on Saturday, a match that saw the Scots booed off the park.

An away win would boost Scotland's prospects of qualifying for their first major tournament since the 1998 World Cup finals in France, but defeat would leave Strachan's side facing an uphill task to qualify for the 2018 finals in Russia ahead of a trip to face group leader England on November 11 at Wembley.

The Scots have four points from their opening two qualifiers including a 5-1 win in Malta last month.

Former Chelsea forward Sutton - who played under Strachan at Scottish champions Celtic 11 years ago and is a high-profile pundit these days - believes the Scotland manager's increasingly "rude" behaviour in media conferences is proof that he is no longer happy in the job with the fans turning him after he failed to lead Scotland to the 24-team Euro 2016 finals this summer.

Strachan was appointed Scotland manager in 2013 following Craig Levein's poor returns as manager between 2009-2012.

"He has been rude, he's been cantankerous and I just feel he doesn't want to be there any more and he is showing that in every interview," said Sutton on the BBC.

"That's his body language and I think he wants out."

Strachan refused to answer questions from fans put to him by a reporter before the match with Lithuania and his comments after the tie baffled many Scotland fans after he dropped the Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths in favour of goal-starved Chris Martin, who he described as "outstanding".

Derby forward Martin - who has been farmed out to Fulham on loan - has not scored a goal at club level since April.

Griffiths has eight goals from 13 games this season and 40 from 53 last season as he became the first Celtic striker since Henrik Larsson over a decade ago to hit 40 in a season.

Sutton has accused Strachan of choosing unpopular teams rather than picking men on form.

"I think his comments in the summer were appalling," said Sutton.

"He said that Scotland were a nation of scared footballers and I think of the impact that would have had on the players at that time..they would have been totally disgruntled by that.

"I think he's losing credibility with the fans. I don't agree that a lot of fans are still on his side.

"Gordon Strachan said Scotland don't have big stars like Gareth Bale and then the Scottish fans see Iceland, they see Northern Ireland, they see Wales and their performance and think we want a piece of that.

"And you have Steven Fletcher, who has actually started scoring again for Sheffield Wednesday, you have Leigh Griffiths who has scored barrel load of goals and who Gordon, for whatever reason, doesn't rate and nobody in Scotland other than Gordon understands that."