Charlie: We’ll finish group with flourish
CHARLIE MULGREW last night vowed Scotland will turn around their Nations League nightmare.
Their 2-1 defeat to Israel on Thursday leaves both of them and Group One rivals Albania locked on three points each.
With the new tournament being Alex McLeish’s best hope of plotting a path to Euro 2020, his most senior stopper is well aware their double header in mid-November is crucial.
Scotland face Albania in Shkoder on November 17 before getting the Israelis back to Hampden three nights later.
Mulgrew, who brought what turned out to be false hope with the opener from the spot, said: “We have to pick ourselves up and realise we can still get through this group.
“Maybe everybody has been cancelling each other out but these are vital games coming up so we need to be ready.
“I understand the fans’ reaction out there – they travelled a long way and we are gutted we couldn’t get the result for them.
“Our heads were down in the dressing room afterwards too though. It was very quiet.”
Mulgrew joined the chorus of team-mates exonerating Kieran Tierney after the Celtic star shouldered the blame for the loss.
He said: “Of course it wasn’t all his fault. We had a couple of chances we could have done better with.
“KT is that sort of person though. He’s wholehearted and is gutted. He feels it’s his responsibility and that’s a shame because we’re all responsible for that result.
“We’re a collective unit and win and lose as a group.
“The staff and players will all be looking back to see how we could have improved on that.”