In a strange and angry pocket of the Tartan Army, there is a section of Scotland supporters who have taken to booing the head coach and the team.
They were audible on Saturday after the loss by Japan at Hampden and audible again on Tuesday after a second 1-0 defeat of the international window, against Ivory Coast in Liverpool.
This crew – smallish in number but sufficiently large to assault the eardrums of the management and players – are an odd bunch.
It’s true that Scotland should be beyond the point of just being happy going to the World Cup – and these players are way past that notion.
It’s also true that there is an expectation on Scotland now to be competitive in every game they play. And they pretty much are.
Against Ivory Coast they were very competitive. They lost, they put in a flawed performance, but there was intent in what they did.
It wasn’t enough, but it doesn’t have to be enough now, it needs to be enough when the big show happens.
That’s the big show that Denmark will not be attending after their exit on penalties in their play-off with the Czech Republic. A party that Italy will also miss out on following their loss, also on penalties, against Bosnia-Herzegovina.
This cluster of malcontents appear to have an entitlement, possibly a load of bevvy, and certainly an animosity towards Steve Clarke running through their veins.
Reacting to a narrow defeat for a much-changed team as if a sacred contract written in the manager’s blood had been broken was wild. Buying a ticket and travelling to Liverpool is not a binding agreement that Scotland will entertain, score and win.
This was another loss, yes. Another game without a goal, sure. But there are certain nuances.
It wasn’t the same limp performance we saw against Japan. It was better than that; more energy, more attitude, more physicality, more goal threat. Same outcome but an improved showing.
There was cause to be disappointed in the way Scotland conceded from a counter-attack, a run from Nicolas Pepe that wasn’t tracked by Billy Gilmour, a defensive lapse that wasn’t recovered by Kieran Tierney, and a shot that Liam Kelly presumed was going in until it came off a post.
Kelly gave up on it as Gilmour and Tierney gave up on it. Pepe was the only one alive to the moment in there. Goal.
‘Hard to envisage surprise inclusion at this stage’
There was further cause to feel worried about Scotland’s lack of edge up front. George Hirst worked himself to a standstill, created a few half-chances for himself, but couldn’t execute.
In the Lyndon Dykes role, Hirst did a better version of Lyndon Dykes than Lyndon Dykes. He was mobile, powerful, full of running.
But these two suffer from the same ailment – they’re strikers who are not very good at striking the ball into an opponent’s net no matter who they’re playing for.
The Scottish player with the best numbers by far this season is Oli McBurnie of Hull.
McBurnie hasn’t played for Scotland for five years – and may never again – but he has 13 goals and seven assists in 30 games in the English Championship. Hull are fifth in the table.
Ross Stewart of Southampton might have been worth a look. Kieron Bowie now seems out of the picture after his move to Italy. Clarke is a creature of habit and it’s difficult to see any of these guys getting in the shake-up now.
This was Scotland’s last game before Clarke picks the 26 for America. It’s hard to envisage a lightning bolt at this stage.
If possible X-factor wildcards – Calvin Miller and Elliot Watt, for instance – were even the tiniest dot on Clarke’s radar we’d have known it by now.
Lennon Miller didn’t see any minutes against Japan or Ivory Coast. He’ll go to the World Cup as chief cone organiser, perhaps.
They tried to play progressive football against Ivory Coast, but they were undone too often by their own wastefulness, lack of accuracy, and a shortage of the kind of explosiveness and cleverness that Ben Gannon-Doak gives them on his best days.
The hope is that Gannon-Doak continues his recovery and is flying come Boston. The hope, too, is that Scott McTominay and John McGinn and the other totems of this team find their very best stuff on the biggest stage.
That’s a lot to hope for. The alternative is to mope and boo and there’s no future in that.
Scotland had 14 shots to Ivory Coast’s 12 and four on target to their opponents’ three. They created difficulties for a team that went through their entire World Cup qualifying campaign without conceding a goal.
Clarke’s side will never be as ruthless as they were against Denmark on that famous night at Hampden – an overhead kick from McTominay, a world-class finish from Tierney, a miracle from halfway from Kenny McLean.
Lawrence Shankland’s goal was a tap-in, but he admits Lewis Ferguson’s corner was probably going in anyway, before he made sure.
There was a freakishness about the four goals and the whole occasion. Reality is hitting home again now.
Scotland have to get back to what has brought them joy in the recent past – huge tempo, dangerous deliveries from wide, a flooding of an opponent’s penalty box, a creation of chaos, a flick-on, a ricochet, a breaking ball launched into a net.
They need McTominay and McGinn and Ryan Christie crashing into penalty areas and finishing.
They need Andy Roberton on one side and Gannon-Doak on the other whipping in crosses that spark mayhem.
As a central striker, Clarke has who he has. None of them are Harry Kane. The star quality lies elsewhere in this team. They all need to step up.
A second friendly defeat in four days was no calamity since it came on the back of an admirable performance, unworthy of booing.
Be fretful, be anxious, be a quivering wreck about what might be in America, but keep perspective, too. Scotland are there and they have a chance to do what none of their exalted predecessors have done.
Whoever’s booing them now must be the type of character that smiles at themself in the mirror in the morning, just to get it over with.-BBC
