Still in boots and kit, Rachel Corsie was ashen as she entered Tuesday night’s press conference in the bowels of Hampden in the immediate aftermath of hammering against England.
She would not be drawn on whether she ought to have been red-faced given the appalling lesson dished out by Sarina Wiegman’s side. “It is a night where we think we have let ourselves down in a number of areas. Everyone wants to fix it together and that is going to be important,” was all she would say when faced with the question about it being the most embarrassing display she had been involved in across a Scotland career where she has amassed 146 caps to date.
Both she and Pedro Martinez Losa spoke of the forthcoming European Championships campaign as they insisted that Scotland must absorb the lessons of the last three months. The problem is that there is scant evidence to suggest any lessons have been learned on the back of the failure to reach the last Euros or the Women’s World Cup.
“There is a new opportunity with every new campaign,” maintained Corsie. The real issue now is just who leads the charge for Scotland going into that one.
Corsie admitted that she considered international retirement on the back of the failure to make it to Australia and New Zealand. She is one of a number of seasoned professionals who has long been over the course with Scotland - and does know what standards are required at major international tournaments - but there is a feeling that there is a strong need for fresh blood into this Scotland side now.
Goalkeeper Sandy MacIver started two games but was then dropped to the bench for the game against England with Lee Gibson recalled, a decision that seemed puzzling; was she to blame for defeat to The Netherlands and the draw with Belgium or was there a question mark over playing against England given her background to ending up at Scotland?
Whether the new campaign that lies ahead includes Martinez Losa at its forefront is an interesting conversation. Pleased with the progress that had been made - even if Scotland could not see off the Republic of Ireland in the World Cup play-off final and make it to the tournament - the Spaniard was given a four year extension to his contract from the SFA back in September.
However you cut it, the optics of that now look baffling. There is an argument to say that it would be wise to cut ties now ahead of a new campaign rather than run the risk of the same deficiencies undermining the chance to get to the Euros - but, even for allowing any caveat in the contract, that is a decision that costs money.
Martinez Losa bared his own teeth as Tuesday’s press conference was drawing to a close. Having appeared stunned at times by questioning pertaining to his own position, he aimed a shot of his own across the bows with regards to expectations and current standards.
“We have to be realistic,” he said “To qualify for a major tournament we have to have the setup and investment, and all the resources to do that, and not only focus on the manager and the players. We are looking at the setups of other national teams, they are very different to what we have so that is not an excuse but we need to see how others at our level manage to do that. We want to be a major tournament team, we need to start behaving as a major tournament team.”
There is a conversation for another day about the failings that took place in the aftermath of the 2019 World Cup and what followed but in terms of the here and now there is an accusation that Martinez Losa lacks a ruthless streak necessary to succeed in management.
Asked at one stage if he ought to have changed things during the course of the opening period as the roof started to fall in on Scotland he said; “I considered [making first half subs] but didn’t do it because in the end, the responsibility of the team is with myself. I respect the team, I understand for the players that it is a big occasion and I wanted to wait until half time.”
It already feels like the clock is ticking on his time with Scotland. Even without players of the ilk of Caroline Weir and Emma Watson, Scotland should be getting more out of Erin Cuthbert, Kirsty Hanson and Martha Thomas, players who are competing against many of those England players week in, week out in the English Women’s Super League.
A good coach is measured in his or her ability to get more than the sum of their parts out of their squad. At the very least there needs to be organisation, game plans and structure.
Scotland look like a team right now who have treaded water and are now sinking beneath the waves.
