ONE WALLOW DOESN’T MAKE A SUMMER VERDICT
Quit the self-pity – our rookies will come good
There are a lot of new boys who need to gel together. That will take time
The Anfield superstar was the first to admit what the national team brought on Friday night was nowhere near good enough at the dawn of a new era.
The lack of pressure, lack of chances, lack of bums-off-seats moments, he held his hands up to them all as he reflected on the boos ringing round Hampden which welcomed Alex McLeish back into the job after the 1- 0 defeat to Costa Rica.
However with four new caps in the starting line-up and another coming off the bench, the 24-year- old insists they cannot be expected to deliver a vision of the future in 90 minutes. And it’s a problem only time and hard work will fix.
With 21 caps and Premier League and Champions League experience now in his locker, he classes himself as one of the squad’s experienced campaigners and intends to use that going forward.
Robertson said: “It’s never nice to lose and especially on home soil but its a new start and it’ll take time. We’ve only really been together for two days’ full training and it’s not going to happen overnight.
“We’ve changed our formation and there are a lot of new boys who need to gel together. That will take time.
“But it was a frustrating start and not good enough. It’s the same as club football when you change manager – he has different thoughts. And the players need to go with it.
“Alex has only really been in the job a week, he sees something in all these players and he has given them a chance to prove it.
“You can’t say after one game it doesn’t work. You don’t know all the reasons why other boys aren’t here and all these boys have been doing really well.
“Looking at the squad I think it’s strong but it is also young and we need everyone to give us a chance to grow, learn, get better and gel. Once we have done that is when we can be judged.”
In an atmosphere so flat the SFA didn’t even give out an official attendance, it must have been hard for a player used to turning it on in front of packed houses every week to turn on the tap. But Robertson refused to accept the excuse and insisted: “We need to create our own atmosphere, whether there’s 50,000 there or however many were actually in on Friday night.
“If we’re creating chances and pressing and winning the ball back then we’ll get the fans off their seats but we didn’t manage to do that.
“It was quiet but thanks to the fans who showed up.
“Again though, it cannot come overnight, that’s what everyone needs to realise, and I think they do.
“It’s going to take more friendlies, more training and more working together. If we can do that then I’m sure going into the Nations League we’ll be a lot better equipped.
“It’s good that we have another game this week, they’re key right now. I’m sure we’ll set up the same but maybe with different personnel – the manager has to look at everyone and I’m sure it will be better than it was against Costa Rica because we’ll have a couple more days to work at it.”
Scott McTominay – watched by Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho – and Oli McBurnie both earned pass marks on the night for their debuts.
And Robertson insists there’s more to come from both once the team tunes into each other’s needs.
He said: “I played against Scott two weeks ago at Old Trafford and he was brilliant against us.
“Against Costa Rica, he’s used to playing a four at the back and dropping in and getting the ball but we didn’t need that because we had the three centre backs.
“But once he got pushed further on and got a licence you could see him coming into his own.
“He’s young, though, we need to let him adapt and grow – and it’s the same with all the young players.
“If we can do that and not put too much pressure on them then hopefully we have a bright future.
“I spoke to Scott after the game at Old Trafford – it was just a couple of days before that he made his announcement so I said I’d see him when we got up the road and he said he was looking forward to it.
“To be fair, the big man has settled in really well. He’s a good lad and is just getting to know everyone.
“He doesn’t really know anyone. At least someone like Scott McKenna has played in the same league as a lot of the lads.
“So Scott needs to settle and that’s where the most-capped boys need to look after all of the younger ones and make them feel part of the squad quickly.
“As for Oli, the first half we isolated him too much, he was on his own but he was holding it up well, the big man is good with his feet. We just needed to get a bit closer to him.
“We managed to create a couple of chances for him and on another day he might have put them away, but we do need to create more for him and the other attacking players.” Despite the dismay, Robertson refuses to let it become despair.
He insisted: “Of course there’s still a sense of hope. It’s a new start, a new set of staff, it’s a new squad.
“The midfield three was completely new, for example. Tom Cairney and Kevin McDonald have been in squads before but never had the nod, and although they play together, they needed to get used to working with Scott.
“The back three had to get used to that format ion, a s did mysel f and Callum Paterson.
“And in the first half we were neither here nor there - we had to sort it out at half-time and we managed to do that. The second half was a lot better.
“This game will help us – we can look back on it, see what we did right and what we did wrong as well. And we can take that into Tuesday and hopefully see a better performance.”