IT ALREADY FEELS LIKE WE NEED SNOOKERS
SCOTLAND are still unbeaten after their opening two games in this new World Cup qualifying campaign. But, let’s be honest, two points from those two games represents a poor start. The draw against Austria at Hampden last week was only going to be a good point for us if it was then followed by victory in Israel last night. That didn’t happen — and, on the balance of play, it never actually looked likely to happen. Our performance last night was massively underwhelming. For a team who are heading to their first major finals in a generation, there is still something deeply flawed in the make-up of this Scotland team. It’s a mentality thing as much as anything. We should be riding high on a wave of confidence after what happened in Serbia last year. Instead, we still look timid and afraid to impose ourselves on games. We look scared to be aggressive and press teams. We’ve played Israel six times in just over two years. It’s not like we don’t know what they’re about. They’re not a surprise package who warrant a cagey approach. They’re an average side, with one or two decent players up front. Scotland have by far and away the better squad of players. We have more talent all across the pitch. But judging by how Scotland approached the first half last night, you’d have thought it was Brazil we were playing. We sat back and just allowed Israel to dominate us. We were rabbits in the headlights. Steve Clarke was brought into the job to instil a sense of pragmatism and to make us hard to beat. Credit to him because he’s certainly done that. But, at times, it feels like we’re a bit of a one-trick pony. It’s almost like we don’t believe in ourselves to go and play on
the front foot and cut teams open. The first half last night was basically a non-event from Scotland’s point of view. We just stood off Israel and allowed them far too much time and space to dictate the game. Scotland were sat so deep at times and just invited pressure. In all honesty, we were probably fortunate to only go in 1-0 down at half-time. Israel had all of the better chances in the opening 45 minutes and could quite easily have found themselves two or three goals ahead at the break. As for the goal itself, there’s no doubt David Marshall should have kept it out. For a keeper of his ability, that should have been bread and butter. Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry were an accident waiting to happen, so it was no surprise that Clarke (right) chose to switch it up and take Hendry off at half-time. Clarke changed it to a 4-2-3-1 system in the second half — and the difference was night and day. Scotland engaged Israel higher up the pitch and played with a sense of ambition. Kieran Tierney ended up slotting in at left-sided centre-half in a back four. He was our best centreback on the night by a million miles, head and shoulders above Hanley and Hendry. I’m keen for Clarke to explore this moving forward. Tierney can clearly play at left centre-back in a four, which still allows Andy Robertson to play outside him at leftback. The 3-5-2 system which Clarke had been using previously was more through necessity than anything. It was a way of shoehorning all his best players into the team.
But the balance looked much better when he changed it last night. We still had Tierney, Robertson, Scott McTominay and John McGinn on the pitch, so we didn’t lose anything. Che Adams also looked excellent on what was his first start at international level. He was a real handful and put in a brilliant shift as our main striker. But there’s no escaping the reality of it all for Scotland — two points from our opening two games against Austria and Israel puts us firmly on the back foot. We’re only two games into a new World Cup qualifying campaign. But it already feels like we might need snookers to reach Qatar. Denmark are the best team in the group and we haven’t even played them yet. Austria were decent, but certainly not world-beaters. A team with genuine ambitions of qualifying should be winning those games at home. In the end, though, we did well just to scrape a point. Remember, this group was viewed as a favourable draw for Scotland. We managed to avoid the real heavyweights such as France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the likes. Denmark and Austria came from pots one and two, with Scotland in pot three. We are the third-ranked team, meaning we will eventually have to take points off at least one of the teams above us. I felt it was a missed opportunity to do that against the Austrians at Hampden — and the result in Israel last night only compounded that sense of disappointment. Not for the first time in recent qualifying campaigns, Scotland find themselves chasing it from an early juncture. As soon as you have to start looking at other results and start relying on other teams doing you a favour, the game’s a bogey.