Scotland captain Andrew Robertson gave an honest assessment of Friday’s heavy defeat to hosts Germany as the Liverpool fullback was put on trial for the Tartan Army‘s humiliating display.
In a bit of a shack up, manager Steve Clarke addressed the media after the 31-year-old. Clarke kept it extremely short and sharp but did appear more jovial towards the end, sharing a laugh or two.
The Scots suffered their heaviest defeat in the European Championships as they succumbed to a 5-1 thrashing by hosts Germany.
Die Mannschaft wasted no time and opened the scoring inside ten minutes thanks to Bayern Leverkusen starlet Florian Wirtz.
Sustained waves of German attacks soon put DFB two goals for the better after Jamal Musiala smashed home from close range.
To make matters worse, Scotland had a man sent off on the stroke of halftime.
Ryan Porteous’ crunching challenge on Ilkay Gundogan gifted the hosts a third when Kai Havertz converted the resulting penalty.
From then on, it was a case of damage limitations for Clarke’s side.
Despite the Scots’ best efforts, it was not enough and Niclas Füllkrug‘s wonder strike rubbed salt in a gaping wound.
The consolation goal to equal their tally at Euro 2020 did soften the blow but only slightly given it was an Antonio Rudiger own goal and Germany responded immediately through substitute Emre Can.
Scotland will be under no illusion that they have to get a result tomorrow evening against Switzerland or it will likely be curtains for their hopes of getting out of the group stages.
Speaking to the media, Robertson spent the majority of the press conference reflecting and addressing the loss.
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Robertson on “really good” Germany and belief ahead of tomorrow’s clash
Robertson understood that Friday’s 5-1 defeat was unacceptable, but the fullback wanted to put the result into context.
The 31-year-old insisted: “We came up against a really good team and we didn’t show up the way we wanted to and that always makes it difficult.
“We got punished for it. That’s for sure. So obviously there was a lot of disappointed faces come Saturday morning but we gave the lads the night time to get over it and then we moved on because in tournament football we have a next game around the corner.
“And we want to try and show up the way we believe that we can, the way we believe Scotland can play, I don’t think we done that the other night.”
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Harsh criticism of Clarke following Friday’s defeat
Following their disastrous start to Euro 2024, the press, in particular the Scottish press, laid a considerable amount of the blame at the door of Scotland boss Clarke.
Claims of an information overload were the topic of discussion after the match. Robertson was adamant there was clarity.
Robertson said: “I think everyone assessed themselves after that game and maybe the gaffer was a bit harsh on himself.
“Okay. If you [the media] believe they gave us too much information, but I believe the information was clear.”
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A reflective but productive Saturday
He spoke at length about the proceeding day after the defeat. As captain, he gave the team until Saturday dinner time to get rid of any remaining emotions that were troubling them.
On Sunday, the team began their preparation for the Switzerland clash.
On Saturday, Robertson explained: “I think everyone took that day on Saturday to look at themselves, not pointing fingers at anyone else. We all done that and came to a better place for it, come Saturday evening we had a meeting on it. And, Sunday we were good to go and move on from it and look ahead to this game.”
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“We have to move on from it now”
The 31-year-old is under no illusion that going into the tournament people did not expect Scotland to compete against Germany. However, the fullback maintains belief in the quality of the squad to bounce back and move on.
The fullback said: “We know what we have to do. Definitely. Maybe people on the outside didn’t hold much hope for us anyway.
“Maybe that took even more of a knock and faded but we have a firm belief in our squad that we have quality within and we can do the things that we didn’t do on Friday.
“There was two sides to the defeat that night, we didn’t show up properly, but also I thought we’ve seen a very good team perform at the highest level in front of the home fans opening their tournament, it was always going to be difficult for us.
“We have to move on from it now.”
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Scotland played with fear on Friday
In qualifying, Scotland defeated the likes of Norway and Spain to make sure of their place in the finals. Robertson believes that confidence was not there on Friday.
He said: “We played them a wee bit with fear, which we didn’t want but look, it’s easy to talk about it, it’s harder to put it in place.
“We had enough experience on the pitch where we should have done better and we all know that and the whole country but I don’t want to keep bringing up failure because now we’re looking forward.
“We’ve got a big game coming up tomorrow night and we’re all excited about that.”
Switzerland have qualified for three consecutive Euros, achieving a round of 16 and quarter-final finish in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
Robertson commented on tomorrow’s opponents: “We watched the game [Switzerland vs Hungary], I thought they were really good. Switzerland are a bit of a template for what we want to become.
“They’ve been excellent at tournaments in the past. They’ve already got off to a very good start.
“We need to be at our best to get anything off Switzerland and if we do that we believe that we can try and get a result but they’ll also be a team full of confidence and rightly so after what they did on Saturday.”
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Talk is cheap there can be no more excuses
Of course, given the nature of the result, there have been a lot of discussions surrounding Scotland.
Robertson insists the time for talk is over: “We need action and there was a lot of talk after the game as well. A lot of people from the outside couldn’t wait to dip into it. That’s fine for them [the press] they get paid to do that.
“I could sit up here for hours and hours and talk about it but it’s not going to make much difference we need to be confident that we can perform to our highest level.
“If we do that then hopefully we can talk after tomorrow night’s game and it will be a bit of a happier chat.”
There were an estimated 200,000 Scots in Munich last week, fulfilling the infamous saying of no Scotland, no party.
On their tremendous support, Robertson said: “The support we had on Friday was right up there with the best I’ve had and then we let them down.”
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Clarke: “We go there to win”
Clarke kept it extremely short and sweet. He wasted no time and struck a manager itching to get back to his preparations ahead of tomorrow evening’s clash.
He said: “We go there to win, we go there to be as positive as we can. And then we see where that takes us. It’s more about making sure we perform as well as we can play.
“And if we do that, I’m pretty confident we’ll get something from the game.”
Following a question regarding what he has learned about himself in the last few days, the former Kilmarnock manager revealed his thoughts are only on his team and how he can best serve them.
“I’m just thinking about my team really, what I can do to help them, any personal reflections, I’ll do after the tournament.”
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Biggest game for Scotland in Clarke’s tenure
Many have touted tomorrow’s much anticipated must-win game against Switzerland as the biggest game under manager Clarke, given defeat will spell another group exit for the Tartan Army.
Clarke was reluctant to answer: “I’ve always said before. That’s for the end of my career. I will decide [that] when I finish.”
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Super flexible Switzerland
Hungary manager Marco Rossi expressed his surprise at the extent to which Murat Yakin changed his team on Saturday.
The 60-year-old said: “Whether they use that specifically for the Hungarians or whether they’ve got something up their sleeves for us, we won’t know until we get to the pitch, so we have to be prepared for anything.”