WALTER SMITH has analysed France inside-out and believes that Raymond Domenech’s team now compares to the most celebrated Les Bleus of all, the side that carried the World Cup down the Champs Elysées eight summers ago to receive the adoration of almost one million who spilled on to the streets of Paris.

The Scotland manager has not hidden this from his own players. Indeed, he has made them acutely aware of the fact that that they will be rubbing shoulders with the best side in the world just now. Smith urges respect for the Frenchmen who will walk out the Hampden Park tunnel today but he wants his own to seize the day.

“I have stressed to the players it does not matter who you are playing, either the Faeroe Isles or France, and whether you’re top of the group or not, Scotland are in a position where we have to respect every team,” Smith declared yesterday after putting his squad through their final training session at the national stadium for the Euro 2008 qualifying encounter with the side who share group B leadership with his own after two games.

“If we don’t show any respect, we’ll never get there,” Smith added. “France demand a great deal of respect but we’ve got to make sure that doesn’t inhibit us in terms of going and playing in a manner which we think will cause them a problem. That’s the position that France have achieved in world football. We’ve got to be good enough to go in, play our game against them, and hope that causes them a problem.

“I sense there’s a little bit of belief there that we can start to cause teams problems. Not just France, but other teams ranked well above us in the rankings. Just how much of a problem, we’ll have to wait and see. We can’t be inhibited against the French.

“I’m sure the lads will go out and show their best. We don’t want to let ourselves or the supporters down. We have to go out and make sure we equip ourselves in the best manner we can.”

That is easier said than done, of course. France have far superior resources to Scotland, yet the hosts have had their own fine start undermined by the suspension of Kenny Miller, who scored two goals in the opening wins over the Faeroes and Lithuania, and the injuries that have deprived Smith of Gary Naysmith and Nigel Quashie, at left back and in midfield, respectively, two of Smith’s core contributors.

He may opt to play with a sitter, in between the back four and midfield quartet, with James McFadden up front on his own. It is a far cry from 1989, when Mo Johnston — then playing in France with FC Nantes — and Ally McCoist were the front pairing who helped to inflict a 2-0 defeat upon the French on their last competitive visit to Glasgow.

“It’s difficult to draw comparisons,” Smith said. “France even had a few games during the World Cup qualification where they were below their level, but still managed to hold on and get draws. It wasn’t the easiest campaign for them. If you’d have been playing them at that time, you might have thought that maybe you had a better chance against them.

“But, look at them now, having gained a level of confidence from the World Cup finals again, I think their team’s back on track. There’s a good shape about their team.

“They have a good attitude. Although it may seem strange, I think that some of the players have taken up the mantle that Zinedine Zidane left and they’re enjoying that part of it. Their teamwork is as good as at any other time.”

Smith admits that he has talked up Thierry Henry and Co, not ignored them. “If you’re going to achieve anything, you have to get firmly in your mind what level you’re playing against,” the manager explained. “There’s nothing wrong with knowing the fact that France are considered by many to be the number one team in the world at the moment. Why kid yourself on that it’s anything else? “The job you have to do is exactly the same, and there’s no point pretending that it’s not the case. Arguably, they are the best team in the world at the moment and we have to try and handle that, and any situation they create in the game.

“Quite a number of their players were disgruntled in the last qualifying campaign, others withdrew from the international team and they had to put a bit of pressure on them to return so that they would qualify for Germany. Yet nobody ever beat them. Now, I think, everything’s settled down with them and they’re playing to as high a level as they have done since winning the World Cup in 1998.”

But are they better without Zidane? “You can’t make that statement lightly because he was a fantastic footballer,” Smith said. “But when you come towards the end of your career, when you leave there’s a freshness brought in by one or two other players getting an opportunity.

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re better without him. I’m sure any team in the world would be happy to have him in their ranks.”

Henry is not being assigned a specific marker but Smith would not reveal his plans to combat the Arsenal striker. “I’ll join a long list of people who have endeavoured to make sure he’s not allowed to show his talents, but he’s a fantastic player,” the manager said. “He’s one of the best strikers in the world, but most of my players have been playing in England for a number of years and they know what he can do.

“You know what he can do. He runs down the left, cuts inside, shoots and scores...”

And with that, Smith burst into laughter. If only football were that simple. Scotland hope to have the last laugh on the cavalier French at Hampden today.

HOW THEY LINE UP

SCOTLAND (possible 4-1-4-1): C Gordon (Heart of Midllotian) — C Dailly (West Ham United), S Pressley (Heart of Midlothian), D Weir (Everton), G Alexander (Preston North End) — G Caldwell (Celtic) — D Fletcher (Manchester United), B Ferguson (Rangers), P Hartley (Heart of Midlothian), L McCulloch (Wigan Athletic) — J McFadden (Everton).

FRANCE (possible 4-4-2): G Coupet (Lyons) — W Sagnol (Bayern Munich), J Escudé (Seville), L Thuram (Barcelona), E Abidal (Lyons) — F Ribery (Marseilles), P Vieira (Inter MIlan), C Makalele (Chelsea), F Malouda (Lyons) — S Wiltord (Lyons), T Henry (Arsenal).

Referee: M Bussacca (Switzerland).

Television: Sky Sports 1, 5pm, live coverage. BBC One, 10.35pm, highlights.