Scotland turned the forty eighth worldwide aspect to undergo at Ronaldo’s ft, which was hardly a shock.
However over this sport and the Poland defeat there are nonetheless areas of main concern for Steve Clarke’s aspect. 5 targets conceded makes it a complete of 33 in opposition to of their previous 14 video games.
In 5 of their previous six matches they’ve conceded after the eighty fifth minute. It’s now one win in 14 video games and no aggressive win within the final yr.
Towards prime opposition, Scotland can’t appear to stem the tide of targets. And late ones, at that.
“I reiterated to my gamers that now we have to know what a part of the cycle we’re in, what we’re attempting to construct,” head coach Clarke mentioned afterwards.
“We’re attempting to re-adjust after the summer season. We are able to lose these matches to attempt to construct and be sure that the tip purpose, as all the time, is to qualify for the match.”
That implies Clarke is attempting to recalibrate how his group performs after a disappointing Euro 2024 marketing campaign throughout which they barely fired a shot.
The change from a again 5 to a 4-2-3-1 has proven higher glimpses of attacking high quality, and Scotland had a robust spell after conceding the equaliser to Bruno Fernandes.
The introduction of Ryan Gauld, Ben Doak, and Tommy Conway to this camp additionally hints at a special strategy in preparation for subsequent yr’s World Cup qualifiers.
Evolution, not revolution was what Clarke described it as. On the proof up to now there may be loads of work to be completed, with restricted time to do it and fine quality opposition to face.
