TIME FOR OPERATION REBOOT

Scots have hit rock bottom and now face going back to basics against San Marino

SCOTLAND’S game with San Marino should be the time to reboot the computer. An opportunity for the SFA to wipe the slate clean, return to factory settings and start over again.

The national team have hit rock bottom. In the aftermath of a 4-0 defeat to Russia, Steve Clarke offered that blunt assessment himself. And there is simply no escaping the fact recent results have been dreadful.

Scotland have never lost five of their first six qualifiers. Not even under Berti Vogts.

This is now officially the worst qualifying campaign of all time in a pretty crowded field.

For veteran Robert Snodgrass, it was hard to find the words to describe the worrying nature of the collapse which left the national team languishing behind Kazakhstan and Cyprus in Group I. You couldn’t blame him.

‘I find it hard to speak about it because it is the basics of the game which are killing us,’ said Snodgrass.

‘That’s not really been the case for Scotland over the years. Someone would maybe put one in the top corner or it was just small details.

‘But set-pieces were again a problem. You can’t teach mental strength, but it’s disappointing. Two 4-0 defeats. It’s hard to talk about it.’

In assessing the early impact of head coach Clarke — the lack of it, even — some context is important.

Two of his four defeats came against a Belgium team widely rated the best on the planet. The other two against a Russia side which reached the last eight of the World Cup.

Credited with building a dogged, hard-to-beat Kilmarnock side better than the sum of their parts, Clarke (below) was then asked by the SFA to perform the same trick with Scotland. And at the very least, they should be capable of competing.

Yet an international team can only succeed if they have defenders worthy of the name. Understandably, people point to Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland running Holland close in Rotterdam and ask how they achieve results and performances Scotland can’t.

The answer lies in central defence where O’Neill has solid, consistent performers.

In contrast, Clarke lost six central-halves before Russia and had little choice but to pair Charlie Mulgrew, a 33-year-old playing for Wigan in England’s League One, alongside Mikey Devlin — a player with less than 50 first-team games in the last three years who can’t nail down a starting place for Aberdeen.

He could have given Motherwell’s Declan Gallagher a debut or pitched in Stuart Findlay of Kilmarnock. Would either have dealt any better with the physical presence of Russia’s formidable captain Artem Dzyuba? Doubtful.

‘The manager has obviously been working a lot on trying to be a bit more resolute when we went to Moscow,’ added Snodgrass. ‘Defend with a shape and go and try to make something happen in the latter stages of the game.

‘I thought it was happening in the second half and the timing of their first goal and then the next goal was bad. The last half an hour, we were all over the place and it was disappointing.

‘I think the manager is trying to get a solidness about us and a bit of fight and dig. But the last half an hour just went wrong.

‘We went to Russia and felt there was an end game and a chance, but we end up with another bad result.’

The way Scotland set up in Russia was fine. For almost an hour, they actually played like a Steve Clarke Kilmarnock team.

A punt on Oli Burke up front didn’t work, but the arrival of debutant Lawrence Shankland actually improved things.

In the opening 12 minutes of the second half, they did some good things. They looked like a team who believed, for the first time, they could actually take something from a game.

From the moment Mulgrew lost the giant captain Dzyuba at a corner, though, the game was effectively up. The Scots folded faster than a deckchair on Blackpool beach.

Speaking after the match, Russia coach Stanislav Cherchesov was asked what he said to a home team frustrated by two lines of blue jerseys in the first half.

Telling his players to keep raining blows on a vulnerable Scotland defence weakened physically and mentally by repeated heavy beatings, two stunning goals opened the floodgates. The dam was well and truly burst. If supporting Scotland has always been a slightly depressing chore, pulling a dark blue shirt over the head has begun to look more of a burden than a privilege for a number of players.

Losing has become a dangerous and damaging habit they can’t escape.

‘The manager has spoken about wanting to wear the jersey with pride every single time we turn up,’ said Snodgrass.

‘That’s not the problem. That is the case. The lads love playing for Scotland. We turn up here for every camp and try to push to make things better.

‘It seems as if I’m repeating myself every time that I come back to Scotland camps.

‘There are capabilities in there and I just keep going back to working on how we can get better. We need to take Russia on the chin like men and move forward. There can be no feeling sorry for ourselves.

‘But we’ve all played enough games to know that last half hour in Moscow is just not good enough.’

That’s one of the reasons tomorrow’s dead-rubber with San Marino will be lucky to draw 10,000 fans to Hampden.

By rights, the SFA should be moving the game to Edinburgh or Aberdeen, slashing ticket prices and chasing a half-decent atmosphere for Operation Reboot.

Scotland urgently needs a shot of adrenaline to revive flagging spirits before Nations League play-offs in March.

What fans will actually get for their £27 is the grim stench of death. A bleak and deserted stadium where every sweary word uttered by a player will be picked up by microphones and force a Sky Sports apology.

The SFA insist on selling Scotland season tickets for games at Hampden at the start of each campaign.

Everyone understands that they need the money, but the problem with the strategy is clear. Every time another campaign goes down the swanny, the governing body have no room for moving games to more suitable venues.

Right now, the national team is dying of neglect and inertia.

Charging people almost 30 quid to watch a San Marino team thrashed 9-0 by Belgium at an empty Hampden now feels a bit like that Russian corner the other night. It can’t be defended.