Why is it always us?
That’s my overriding feeling watching Scotland at a major tournament and it is just our luck that Patrik Schick chose Hampden as the venue to announce his arrival on the international stage in spectacular style with both goals in the 2-0 win at the national stadium.
The 25-year-old Bayer Leverkusen striker averages a goal every two games for his country and his two efforts against Scotland yesterday were top drawer.
The first goal was a superb header, the second a breathtaking moment of pure quality. What can you do but applaud an audacious effort from the halfway line?
Patrik Schick puts the Czechs two ahead with a lob from the halfway line…#SCO 0-2 #CZE
📲📺 Watch: https://t.co/gH42HDCam6#bbceuro2020 #euro2020 pic.twitter.com/OWEpJRAZmU
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) June 14, 2021
It feels as if it was a hard luck story for Steve Clarke and his players, but we cannot allow ourselves to dismiss it as being a day of misfortune.
It wasn’t. We played our part in an exciting and entertaining game, but the harsh reality is that we were beaten by the better side.
We hit the crossbar and the Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik made some fine saves to deny Andy Robertson and Lyndon Dykes, however, we cannot just look at our chances and ignore the fact David Marshall made some top-drawer saves too.
When you look at the chances created overall, had they been taken it would have finished 5-3 to the Czechs.
I am sure the next few days will be spent going through Steve Clarke’s decisions with a fine toothcomb, but that’s unfair.
Loss of Tierney a huge blow
The Scotland boss had spent the build-up to the tournament with a particular team and style in mind. He had options in his squad, but the two guys he was relying on most were Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney.
For me, they are the two players he cannot do without and – having spent the last year working on a system and style to not only shoehorn both players into the team, but to get the best out of them – he had found a set-up which worked.
Andy likes to get forward, while Kieran is a rare talent who is capable of being an attacking centre-half. There’s not many of them in the game, but he is fantastic at it, and the understanding between the two players has been evident in recent matches.
Make no mistake, losing the Arsenal centre-back on the eve of the tournament was a massive loss and resulted in a big change having to be made.
Liam Cooper has had a terrific season for Leeds United and is a fantastic player in his own right, but he is a different player completely to Kieran in terms of what he brings to the team.
Despite the loss of a key player, for 40 minutes we were in the game and giving the Czechs as many problems as they were giving us.
The only difference was that they got their goal first. The chances flowed at both ends during a frantic opening to the second half and again it was that man Schick who struck the fatal, spectacular blow.
From the moment the second goal was scored, it was time for Steve to throw whatever he could at the game and see what worked. Had we scored a couple of goals and the game finished 2-2, we would be hailing him as a tactical genius, but that wouldn’t be true.
By the same token, just because we didn’t score, it doesn’t mean Steve got his tactics wrong either. The gameplan changed with the first goal and changed again following the second. The job of a manager is to react to those changes and adapt to them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
Christie deserves Wembley chance
I’m disappointed at the result as I felt this game was our best chance of getting a win in the tournament and I wanted to go to Wembley on Friday with three points on board already.
The fact we’ve lost our opening game means the pressure has been piled on Andy Robertson and the rest of the Scotland players for the second game.
We know we are going away to face a very good side, one of the strongest squads in the tournament, on their own patch and we need a result. A point would be decent,but really we need three after losing our opener. It doesn’t get much tougher.
If we lose to Gareth Southgate’s side on Friday then I think our chances of progressing to the knockout phase will be done and dusted.
I expect, with it all on the line, that Steve will go for broke at Wembley with Che Adams, who replaced Ryan Christie at half-time, starting the game alongside Lyndon Dykes.
I hope it is not at the expense of Ryan though. I thought he was very good in the first half and was unlucky to be taken off at the interval. Had it been goalless, I’m convinced he would have stayed on as he was a strong attacking influence for Scotland.
On a big pitch like Wembley against top players, I believe the environment on Friday is one where Ryan will thrive.
Clearly Steve has much to ponder over the next three days.