Georgia 1 Scotland 0: An emotional yet rational rant

I’m not angry. I’m just disappointed.

In fact, scratch that. I am angry. I’m more than angry. I’m pretty bloody pissed off.

Why am I so annoyed? Because I allowed myself to believe again. To think that things could be different. To believe thinking positive thoughts about the national team would lead to better things. That Gordon Strachan and this group of players were better than what we’ve endured in the past. Sure, we may have all said ‘watch this, we’ll do so well and then lose to Georgia’, but deep down, few of us actually believed it. Or maybe we just didn’t want to.

More so, I’m annoyed because it wasn’t even the glorious failure which we’ve become accustomed to. Where the silver lining in the all-encompassing dark cloud is the pride we can take from a gutsy performance. No, not this time. This was just failure. And while we really shouldn’t be surprised – it is Scotland after all – the manner of defeat and lowly status of our opponents, mixed with the trust we’ve built up through all the encouraging signs of progress over the past three years, really made this feel like a sucker punch.

No shots on target. Zip. Zero. Nada. It was the first game of this campaign where we’ve failed to test the opposition keeper (Charlie Mulgrew had a cross deflected into the Georgian custodian’s arms, but that doesn’t count). We went to Germany. The home of the world champions. Not only did we muster a shot on target, but we actually scored. For a brief moment it was Germany 1-1 Scotland. Equals with football’s elite. It was beautiful and we wanted it again. We went to Poland and scored twice, went to Ireland and fought back from a goal down. Sure, defeat in Georgia was always possible. It is football after all. But none of us envisioned it like this. Limp, lifeless and undeserving of any points to take into the last three games.

What happened? Judging from social media, there are 1001 reasons. Most of which revolve around Strachan’s team selection.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as they say. In actuality, it’s completely useless and I try not to indulge in it as much as possible. When I saw the starting XI, I will admit to having no problems with it. At this moment in time, there’s no doubt Leigh Griffiths represents a better goal threat than Steven Fletcher, but to pick him over the Sunderland man would reduce attacking play to its greatest simplicity: start goalscorers if you want to score goals. I admit it seems straight-forward enough, but the system Scotland have played – remember it’s been pretty good thus far – relies heavily on the threat of Ikechi Anya, and to a lesser extent Steven Naismith and Shaun Maloney, running in behind the defence. First time reverse balls, with his back to goal, is what Fletcher specialises in. Start Griffiths instead and yes, you get a better goalscorer, but it reduces the threat of others around him, especially Anya.

There was also the selection of Charlie Mulgrew at centre back and James Morrison in the middle of the park. Again, I thought that was fine. Mulgrew at left-back is an experiment that was deemed a complete failure as long ago as his Aberdeen days, but he’s much better in the central role. While Morrison has that terrier-like quality in front of the back four, along with the ability to get forward and support the attack.

Since the full-time whistle, many have argued Strachan stayed “too loyal” to certain members of his starting XI – namely Fletcher and possibly David Marshall. The conundrum for managers in international football is that you have to strike the right balance. Games take place months apart and, as I’m sure I won’t have to tell you, players drop in and out of form in that time. Change the team constantly to fit this and you have no continuity; play 11 guys with little form and their lack of confidence means they hide in a collective shell for 90 minutes. So, once again, forgetting what I know now, I think Strachan got this pretty right.

My issue with our esteemed manager is that he didn’t change things quickly enough. And when he did, he made the wrong changes.

I liked the sound of Grant Hanley entering the fray because I presumed Mulgrew would step up into the centre of the park alongside Brown. The Celtic duo have excelled in the role before for Scotland and Mulgrew’s passing could have helped carve some openings. Instead, Andrew Robertson went off and Mulgrew went to left-back. Strachan has made some questionable personnel choices throughout his reign, even in games we’ve won, but this comes top of the pile for sheer puzzlement. Robertson as a defender still has a lot to learn – I’m also not sure Mulgrew solidifies the position either, mind – but at this juncture in the game we needed to retain our attacking threats, and Robertson had shown flashes of causing them problems with his rampaging runs forward from full-back. Another issue for Scotland throughout most of the match, barring the first 20 and last 10 minutes, was the slow tempo. This change arguably slowed it further. Where as Robertson wanted to play the give-and-go and attack down the line, Mulgrew knew he didn’t have the pace for it and halted the play. It also took away the majority of his passing range and blinded half his vision because he only had one side of the field to work with.

The other change was to introduce James Forrest for Naismith. This switch basically ensured Fletcher remained on the park for 90 minutes. I like Fletcher. I’ve already defended him in this article. But it’s clear this wasn’t the match for him. His match sharpness and confidence was clearly lacking from a dearth of first-team games and he needed to be sacrificed. This substitution also meant we had to wait longer for Griffiths. He’s no white-knight for Scotland – not yet anyway. However, he’s a live wire, one who’s currently brimming with confidence and isn’t afraid to shoot on sight. In a game where we were creating so little, his talents should have been injected sooner. Only when he did come on did it appear we were trying something new. With 15 minutes left it was far too late.

So, where do we go from here? The unfortunate answer is Monday evening and a resurgent Germany at Hampden Park. From there we take on Poland. This tough run-in has influenced many to believe we’ve blown it yet again.

Will I be joining them in their despondency? I’m not sure. There’s still some positivity and hope in reserve; stashed away in a bunker well below the surface so that it wasn’t obliterated by the Georgia atom bomb. Shortly before writing this article I saw a fellow sports writer saying “the honeymoon was over” for Gordon Strachan. It sounded obvious before the realisation hit me that until 5pm yesterday, Strachan was somehow still in his honeymoon period. He stretched it out to two-and-a-half years! The only way that’s possible is to keep producing reasons to be positive for the support. Until yesterday he did just that. And while the performance in Georgia may have looked and felt like the dark days under George Burley or Craig Levein, one bad defeat does not undo all the progress that has been made. We’ve moved on immeasurably since then.

The way the fixtures are shaping up, Scotland v Poland is going to be the defining game of our campaign. Our chances of catching them are slim. We’d either need to win our last three or hope they lose to Ireland at home in the final game, while at the same time praying Ireland fail to win either home match against Germany or Georgia so they don’t finish second instead. Therefore, automatic qualification looks slim. However, six points could be all it takes to finish third and keep our hopes alive, should Ireland fail to take more than five points against Georgia (h), Germany (h) and Poland (a).

There’s another game on Monday. Let’s dust ourselves off and, at the very least, give ourselves reason to believe once more that we not only can qualify for the European Championships, but that we deserve to be there.

Written by Craig Fowler (@craigfowler86)

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