Scotland captain Andy Robertson admitted they haven’t been themselves and they will face Switzerland with “belief” after showing “fear” in their Euro 2024 defeat to Germany.
Scotland must take something in Cologne on Wednesday night to keep alive their chances of progressing beyond the group stage of a major tournament for the first time.
Scotland impressed in qualifying but have won one of their last 10 games and Robertson knows there has to be a change.
“We just have to get back to being us,” he said.
“We definitely weren’t ourselves on Friday and we need to realise what got us those results in the past and what we were good at when we got to the pitch because the message off the pitch hasn’t changed.
“We have to get back to trusting ourselves in the game, trusting each other, and if we do that we’re a better team. You saw that in abundance in the qualifying campaign.
“You saw a team that was full of belief and ready to fight for each other. Maybe on Friday we played a wee bit with fear which we didn’t want to. It’s not an easy task opening a tournament against the host country, I’ll tell you that, but we had enough experience on the pitch to do better.
Ryan Porteous is banned after his red card against Germany
“We want to look forward. We’ve got a big game coming up [against Switzerland] which we’re all excited about and we want to show this tournament what Scotland are all about. If we do that I believe that’s the best way for us to get a result.”
Steve Clarke said after their 5-1 defeat to Germany that he may have given the squad “too much information”, which could have “clouded the players”.
Switzerland won their Group A opener against Hungary
But Robertson said it was down to the players.
“Everyone assessed themselves after that game and maybe the gaffer was a bit harsh on himself,” the Liverpool defender added.
“I believe the information he gave was clear and I just think maybe the occasion got to some of us, some of us didn’t have our best game.
“I don’t think we went to the pitch and did what we’ve done to get here.”
Only victory on Clarke’s mind
Steve Clarke targeted four points from the final two group matches but insists only victory is on his mind against Switzerland.
“Difficult opponent, I expect a difficult game,” he said.
“For us, it is to regroup and go again. It’s that simple. It is about doing better, exactly that.
“The players want to go back and play better and I think that is pretty standard when you play so poorly and let yourself down.
“As I said when I spoke to a lot of you on Sunday, it is about doing better, working better into the game.
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Scotland manager Steve Clarke says his side need to start well against Switzerland and feels it’s important to keep their emotions in check.
“We thought we were well prepared for Germany, obviously we weren’t. So this time I think it is better not to say too much and hopefully with our actions on the pitch we will show that we prepared well and a positive result would be lovely.
“To go into the game thinking you only need a point is dangerous. We go there to win, to be as positive as we can and we see where that takes us.
“It is more about making sure we perform as well as we can and if we can do that I am pretty confident we can get something from the game.
“It is a big challenge, a good team, a lot of good players, very strong down the spine of the team, defend well, don’t give too much away and have a lot of pace up front. So we expect a difficult night.”
Scotland’s record vs Switzerland
Ally McCoist scored as Scotland beat Switzerland at Euro 96
Wednesday’s match will be just the second meeting between the sides at a major tournament. Scotland won 1-0 in the group stages at Euro 1996 with Ally McCoist scoring the only goal.
That is Scotland’s only win in their last five games against Switzerland.
They last met in a friendly at Hampden Park in March 2006 with the visitors running out 3-1 winners.
Kenny Miller scored Scotland’s only goal on that occasion – Steve Clarke will be hoping for a better result this time or they could be heading for the plane home from Euro 2024.