Captain is wary of likely group fate... but there is time to plan for play-offs
THE Tartan Army had, fittingly, turned their back on the big-screen message as they walked away to begin the journey home. Filing out after the full-time whistle on Friday night, up flashed an advertisement for Scotland v Kazakhstan on Tuesday, November 19. By that stage, the ‘Nothing Matters More’ slogan appeared to have expired well before its sell-by date. The prospect of a meaningless last Euro 2020 qualifying group game in mid-November is an unappetising one, even for the most ardent foot solider. That the fate will likely be all but confirmed by tomorrow evening, with four games left to play in the section, is a write-off for the 2019 international season as a competitive concern. Unless Scotland can conjure a huge shock against Belgium then those upcoming contests will be relevant only as preparation games for fixtures in March. That is when Steve Clarke will pick up from the good work of Alex McLeish in guiding Scotland to the Nations League play-offs. Yesterday’s Wembley losers Bulgaria are among potential semifinal opponents on the journey to one of four extra places up for grabs at the European Championships. So there is ample time for renowned organiser Clarke to figure out the best use of his resources before those make-orbreak matches in the spring, something not lost on Andrew Robertson.
The captain cast his eye over the Group I scenarios left to play out and had to confess to not fancying Scotland’s chances with a lot of damage already done.
The Liverpool star admitted: ‘We are six points behind second place, we are playing Belgium next and I fancy Russia to beat Kazakhstan.
‘So we know what the more likely route is. Even if we go and beat them in Russia it could still be six points. They then play Belgium once more but then have the lesser teams.
‘We need to start striking up partnerships because I didn’t think Russia played the best but they looked as if they had their partnerships — and they knew exactly what they were doing.
‘We need to get that quite quickly because, for instance, myself and Ryan (Fraser) need to know what each other are doing.
‘And same on the other side, same with the centre-backs and same with the midfield.
‘If we can do that, then we use each other’s strengths a lot more. That will come with time, it’s not going to happen overnight.
‘Hopefully we can build on that and, if results don’t go for us on Monday, then hopefully it will be in time for March.
‘If the campaign ends in disappointment in November, which probably a lot will expect, then we have to pick ourselves up for March and arrive there confident about going through.
‘Those are the two biggest games we’ll have had in a long time. The ones stopping us — or making us — go to the Euros.
‘That’s what we need to do. But we will cross that bridge when it comes. We still need to focus on this campaign and try to get a result on Monday.’
A hamstring injury kept Robertson out of the away tie against the Belgians in June, when Scotland fell to a 3-0 loss.
The Scots are rated as big as 7/1 with bookmakers to cause a surprise in their home fixture against the World Cup semifinalists.
‘Losing to Russia leaves us needing to get something from Monday and, unfortunately, we are playing the top seeds who are the best team in the world,’ noted Robertson. ‘We have to believe we can, first and foremost, frustrate them. Then try to create goals of our own because we will need to score.
‘We need to try and win the game and, if we can get the three points, then three points from these two games is what we’d have taken at the start.
‘That’s what we’ve got to look at and believe we can do. They are ranked the best team in the world — and they are.
‘I played against them in the friendly, watched them in the summer and play against many of them week in, week out.
‘We know how hard this is going to be but we have to try and get something.
‘At Hampden, we used to get big results against big teams and we’ve not had one of them for a very long time. When it’s kind of do or die as such, why not do it?’