The Scottish national team are in a bit of a crisis following two very poor Euro 2o2o qualifying results. The 2-1 loss to Russia and the 4-0 defeat to Belgium means that the rest of the qualifiers are relatively meaningless.
Scotland’s next meaningful games will come in March, when Steve Clarke’s side will face a play-off, in an attempt to reach Euro 2020.
In that time, Clarke will need to use the remaining fixtures to try to get the best out of Scotland’s captain, Andy Robertson.
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Consistently brilliant for club side
Robertson has been consistently brilliant for Liverpool since joining them from Hull City. It would not be a reach to suggest that he is possibly the best left-back in the world.
He was fantastic in last season’s victorious Champions League campaign. However, he has been unable to replicate that form as Scotland skipper.
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One reason could be that he does not play with the same standard of player for Scotland, as he does when he plays for Liverpool.
Club side is better than national team
To be honest, he plays with possibly the world’s best centre-back in Virgil Van Dijk. He is never going to play with a defender as good as that for Scotland.
Despite the poor results against Russia and Belgium, Scotland do have a chance of reaching the European Championships next summer.
(Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
They will need to dramatically up their game between now and the play-offs in March though. In the remaining qualifiers, Clarke must find a settled defence and stick to it.
That would give the players time to gel before the play-offs. That could improve Robertson’s performances. To be fair, it is not just him who has struggled in the two games, almost every Scotland player has.
However, there will be more attention on Robertson as he is Scotland’s best player, and he just completed a great season with Liverpool.
There is still time for Clarke and Robertson to lead Scotland to the promised land of the Euros. However, both men will need to work very hard to turn that dream into a reality.