Scotland to keep faith with World Cup failures
The 1-0 defeat to Belarus at Hampden Park on Saturday, coupled with a win for Norway against Moldova, ended Scottish hopes of playing in Germany next summer.
The final qualifier in Slovenia tomorrow night represents a chance to begin preparing for the future but manager Walter Smith has said he will not be making too many immediate changes.
Assistant manager Burns said: "I would think these are the ones that will take us forward unless some players are hiding in the hampers. The best players are here and we will work with them."
The players had made strides under Smith, with Scotland earning a draw with Italy and beating Norway 2-1 in Oslo. But Burns believes the weekend's disappointment will bring expectations for the team back down to realistic levels.
He said: "In the last three or four games we have seen a big improvement in results and performances. In this country, the problem is when get a few good results everybody starts thinking we are world champions.
"But we have always got to battle in every game to get anything. We are never going to be a country that scores a lot of goals. We need players to help scoring goals but we need to be a battling team, and a hard working team and difficult to play against.
"When things go against you, you get criticism and we put our hands up and say we didn't do enough in the first half on Saturday."
Burns admits Scotland's home form throughout the campaign cost them at least a play-off place.
Former manager Berti Vogts and Scottish FA chief executive David Taylor have been blamed for their failure. But the Celtic coach concedes Scotland's form at Hampden where they lost to Norway as well as Belarus, and dropped points against Slovenia and Italy proved costly.
"In the beginning when you look at the group we didn't do well enough," added Burns.
"But you have to win your home games and your away games are a bonus, as it is in any competition."
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