Scotland captain and Reds man Andy Robertson has slammed the performance of his side following their 2-1 loss against Russia in Euro 2020 qualifying last night, which has left their hopes of progression to next summer’s tournament in the balance.
Aston Villa’s John McGinn gave the Scots a good start, putting them a goal in front in the game, but then Artem Dzyuba equalised and then an own-goal from Stephen O’Donnell gave Russia the lead.
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The defeat means Scotland are six points away from the qualification spots in Group I and face the tough challenge of Belgium on Monday night. They have five games left in qualifying to close that gap.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Robertson said of Scotland’s performance: “There’s frustration, annoyance, everything that goes along with it. You can feel it from the stands and we’ve only got ourselves to blame for that, they’ve got every right. It wasn’t good enough.
“First 15 minutes, I thought we were good. [We] got the goal and it was as if it scared us: I’ve never seen anything like that before. That needs to change. If we go into a lead it should be a positive not a negative.
“I’m annoyed with everything. My performance, what the rest of the lads done, all of us except [goalkeeper] David Marshall really. To have 10 players from the start not showing up and putting in the performances we can is never going to win you a game of football.”
It would be nice to see Robertson lead his country into a major international tournament, but it seems unlikely that it will happen at this stage. There is still time, but with a six-point gap to catch Russia, having already lost to them at home, it will be very tough to turn it around.