AS he stood looking ashen-faced deep in the bowels of the Aviva Stadium on Saturday night and reflected on the harrowing defeat that Scotland had just suffered, Steve Clarke vowed to identify what had gone wrong and rectify it.
He has much work to do before the national team’s third 2022/23 Nations League match against Armenia in Yerevan kicks off tomorrow evening.
Andy Robertson and his team mates, fresh from easing to a comfortable 2-0 triumph over Armenia at Hampden in their opening Group B1 game on Wednesday evening, were soundly thrashed by the Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
First-half goals from Alan Browne and Troy Parrot and a long-range second-half strike by Michael Obafemi gave Stephen Kenny’s men – who had not won a competitive fixture at home in nearly three years - a comfortable and deserved victory.
Coming so soon after the Qatar 2022 play-off semi-final defeat to Ukraine at Hampden, it was deeply worrying.
If Scotland play as poorly again in the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium then a loss which damages their hopes of topping their section and securing a Euro 2024 play-off spot is inevitable.
So what exactly has been the problem during this international break? How does the manager turn things around in such a short space of time and ease the pressure that is mounting on him after two reverses in three games? Here are five things he could do.
TRY A BACK FOUR
Switching to a back three when Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney were both fit and available for selection made perfect sense for Clarke.
It enabled the Scotland manager to accommodate the Liverpool and Arsenal left backs in the same starting line-up – Robertson as wing back and Tierney as centre half – and worked well.
The duo combined to devastating effect in the six game winning run which the national team ended their World Cup qualifying campaign with this season.
Yet, when Tierney is missing, as he is at the moment after undergoing a knee operation, it does not, as we have seen this month, function nearly so effectively.
The Scotland defence gifted Ukraine numerous chances and conceded three goals in the play-off semi-final. It was an identical story against Ireland.
Clarke changed to a back four in the second-half of both of those matches and in the former it enabled his team to stage a late, albeit ill-fated, fightback.
It could be time to try it from kick-off, to change from a 3-4-2-1 to a 4-2-3-1 formation, against Armenia away. At the moment, the three man rearguard is malfunctioning badly.
REST HIS BIG NAMES
Nobody in the Scotland camp blamed tiredness at the end of a long gruelling season for the pitiful display in Dublin.
Still, it is clear that key players are not performing with the same energy or sharpness as they were earlier this term.
Grant Hanley, Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, Callum McGregor, John McGinn and Che Adams, individuals who ply their trade at a high level in the Premier League on a weekly basis, all look as if they could do with a rest.
Captain Robertson has started in every game of this international break and has now played 58 times for club and country in the 2021/22 campaign. No wonder he is lacking a spark.
Billy Gilmour, meanwhile, is failing to exert the same influence in the middle of the park and can have no complaints about being dropped.
Greg Taylor, John Souttar and Stuart Armstrong would freshen things up and it would be worth giving Aaron Hickey, David Turnbull, Jacob Brown or Ross Stewart an extended run-out too.
BRING BACK PATTERSON
Anthony Ralston, who had netted on his first Scotland start against Armenia last Wednesday night, was far from the worst performer at the weekend.
The Celtic man got upfield well and delivered balls into the Ireland area which his team mates could and really should have capitalised on early in the game.
Yes, the wing back could have done better to track Troy Parrot at the second goal. But his centre backs, not least Jack Hendry, were culpable there too. He has a bright international future ahead of him.
Could it, though, be time to bring Nathan Patterson back in to the fold?
The Everton man made his return from minor ankle surgery last week when he came off the bench in the second-half and acquitted himself well.
Clarke has to be careful not to ask too much too soon of the 20-year-old defender after such a lengthy injury lay-off.
However, the former Rangers player was sensational at right wing back earlier in the season and would give Scotland a much-needed edge both defensively and offensively if he feels capable of starting.
GET THE FANS ONSIDE
The euphoria of the 2-0 win over Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark at Hampden back in November has completely evaporated as a result of the Ukraine and Ireland reverses.
The Scotland supporters who had travelled to Dublin made their unhappiness at what they had witnessed clear at the end of the 90 minutes when they booed their own team off the park.
The Tartan Army can accept a defeat if they are satisfied that their heroes have given their absolute all and left nothing out on the park.
If Clarke’s players can show a little bit of fight in Yerevan it will go a long way towards getting their 12th man back behind them.
DON’T BELIEVE THE HYPE
Has some complacency crept into the Scotland camp following their six game winning streak and eight match unbeaten run earlier this term? At times in the Aviva Stadium, it looked very much as if it might have.
Their opponents had been on a dire run and had just suffered back-to-back defeats. It would be pushing it to suggest they thought they could just turn up and pick up the three points. But their hosts certainly showed far more hunger than they did.
Having a will to win still matters just as much as formation, team selection or tactics in the modern game and the national team need to show far more of it otherwise this dip in form will turn into a full-blown crisis.
