There was an awful sense of inevitability about Cristiano Ronaldo’s late sickener for Scotland on Sunday night, not because of the propensity for one of the game’s greatest ever players to come up with ‘clutch’ moments, as they like to say these days, but because of our national team’s recent history.
On the whole, it had been a heroic defensive effort from the Scots in Lisbon, and from goalkeeper Angus Gunn. On the whole. But therein lies Scotland’s problem of late.
Amidst all of Gunn’s wonderful stops, there was a crucial error that gifted Portugal their equaliser. And amidst all the stoic defensive efforts, there was a momentarily lapse from Scott McKenna, and another game was lost in the dying moments.
Not to harp on about it, but as we all now know, that means that Scotland’s recent poor run extends to just one win in 14 games (the win coming against Gibraltar, which we must always specify for emphasis).
Context is key in moments such as these. In the wider picture, Scotland have of course come an awful long way under Steve Clarke, qualifying for two European Championships (though technically, it has never been easier to do so) and only being in this fiendishly difficult Nations League Group A1 because of the progress that has been made by the head coach over the past five years.
In the short term too, there are some grounds to mount a defence of Clarke. Scotland are currently facing teams ranked much higher than they are, but have clearly been competitive in their last two matches.
Ok, you could argue that Poland aren’t really any great shakes, but the individual errors that certainly denied the Scots a result against the Poles in a game they shaded at Hampden, and even arguably in the Estadio da Luz against Portugal, were made all the more frustrating because the team had played well.
In the medium term though, looking specifically at the 14 games that make up the current run since the loss in Spain last October, there are more than a few sticks in there with which to beat the Scotland manager.
Yes, there were excusable losses in there to the likes of the Spanish, France, England and The Netherlands, but there was also a home defeat to Northern Ireland, while we failed to beat Finland at Hampden and (the admittedly rapidly improving) Georgia away from home too.
The Euros campaign was a catastrophe. Losing to Germany may have been expected, but the manner of the defeat was bordering on humiliation. The Switzerland game was an improvement, but the eventual meek exit from the tournament at the hands of a limited Hungary outfit left a sourer taste in the mouths of the Tartan Army than the industrial quantities of the local Jagermeister they had been working their way through.
And nobody handled the hangover from the summer worse than Clarke. First, he took an ill-judged swipe at the nationality of the official for the Hungary game, almost causing the biggest diplomatic incident with Argentina since the Falklands War. Then, he went to ground.
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Angus Gunn on Fernandes' goal and Steve Clarke's dressing room message
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Portugal 2 Scotland 1: Late Cristiano Ronaldo strike denies national team gutsy draw
Months went by, and nobody heard a word. The Tartan Army were left to stew, but with the fans still demanding answers over why their side were so timid in Germany by the time Clarke re-emerged into the flashbulbs, it meant that the build up to the Poland match was completely dominated by the fallout from the Euros two months down the line.
And so, Clarke and his side arrived at this camp more than a little battered and bruised by what had gone before. The question was, would he ignore the clamour to tear up the plan that had served him so well over the piece and retain the stubborn loyalty to a core group of players that has been his trademark?
On the first count, he showed a rare willingness to bend. He has played four at the back before, mind you, so his tactical tweaks were hardly the stuff of revolution. As he said they wouldn’t be. But with Kieran Tierney unavailable, the obvious choice was to ditch the back three designed to accommodate him and attempt to be a little more expansive.
As he arguably should have against Hungary. But at least Scotland managed this at points in both games over the last week. On personnel, he was – much to the frustration of the Tartan Army – typically obdurate.
His loyalty to certain individuals is often cast just as equally as a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it has fostered the ‘club’ spirit that has been key to much of his success. On the other, his critics contend that by selecting the same players who are consistently making mistakes and losing late goals, the national side are doomed to repeat the recent pattern.
Whichever side of that argument you fall, Clarke could scarcely care less. Stalwart Kenny McLean was to be the man to come in and replace the retired Callum McGregor against Poland, and he stuck with the same XI against Portugal despite the impressive cameos of Ben Doak and Ryan Gauld at Hampden on Thursday.
And so, another two matches have come and gone, and another two defeats have been suffered. But did the performances feel enough like the turn of the coin the Tartan Army have demanded?
Probably, and just enough to ward off the attack dogs for now. There are injuries after all to players who would improve the team in Aaron Hickey, Lewis Ferguson and Che Adams, and there was enough about the Scots in their general play to suggest grounds for encouragement.
While disappointing to have come out of the camp with nothing material to show for it, there were reasons to believe that things may be just about to improve.
They had better do so quickly though, for Clarke’s sake. He has now gone eight matches in a row without a win, the worst record in the national side’s history, and there is only so long that the injuries, the level of opposition and the encouraging patterns of play will be accepted as mitigation.
