James McArthur has urged the Scottish Football Association to resist any pressure to sack Scotland boss Craig Levein.
A huge question mark hangs over the manager's future after the Scots slumped to the bottom of their World Cup qualifying group following Tuesday night's 2-0 defeat in Belgium. Some members of the Tartan Army made it clear who they want to replace Levein as they unfurled a banner reading 'Strachan SOS' during the defeat in Brussels.
But, as far as McArthur is concerned, the national team already has the right man at the helm in Levein, and the Wigan midfielder said: "I would love him to stay. I think he's a brilliant manager. He has done everything right by the players."
He added: "The players think he's very good and we are just unfortunate that we've not got the results. It's down to us players, we should be getting the results.
"The gaffer is putting us out there and we're not doing it - that's all I can really say about that. I feel he has set us up right in both games (against Wales and Belgium) and we've not done it on the park. It's down to us, totally."
McArthur was drafted into the starting line up for the clash in Belgium in place of injured Celtic skipper Scott Brown.
Scotland held out until 69 minutes when Christian Benteke opened the scoring, and Vincent Kompany doubled the lead a minute later.
McArthur said: "They had a few chances but that was our game plan, to stop them from doing what they do best - creating chances and scoring goals. We did that to a certain point and it was just disappointing to lose the goals.
"We had a few free-kicks and a few chances and on another day they might have gone in. It is a blow. We want to be up there challenging. We are just disappointed that we didn't get a result. There wasn't much more we could do.
"They are a very good side. We came here to try to stifle their play and I felt we did that to a point. We worked so hard and just didn't get what I felt we maybe deserved for our hard work in the game."
Source: PA
