For his week’s work, Gordon Strachan actually did a pretty good job.
Pre-match he struck exactly the right note – demanding more from his players but emphasising that they need not enter Wembley with an inferiority complex.
The team selection was a bold one. Much bolder than anyone anticipated.
It was very Strachan-esque that Leigh Griffiths should finally start when he’s not actually getting a game for his club, and Grant Hanley’s status as an unshiftable is beyond my comprehension. Apart from that, I liked what he was trying to do, how he set his side up, and only the churlish or those who refuse to see any merit in the man could argue that his risks weren’t paying off at the start of the contest.
In the opening quarter, possession was being dominated by the Scots and it was Gareth Southgate’s tactical savvy and motivational skills that looked to be falling short.
Scotland created as many good chances in the match while it was still a live fixture as they had any right to expect. And it wasn’t Strachan’s fault that at least four of his team couldn’t show the necessary composure and accuracy to find the net. If anything, the visitors’ sights at goal were more clear-cut than the hosts’.
Words like ‘shameful’ were used by some to reflect on the 3-0 scoreline but that wasn’t a shameful performance. Shame would have been appropriate if a white flag had been run up. It wasn’t. There was a reason that one bookmaker had 11 English names ahead of the first Scot in their opening goalscorer field.
Yet, for all that Wembley was far from Strachan’s worst day in the job, you can’t escape from the conclusion that his team has lost its way for some time now and, with a five-month gap until the next match and the World Cup qualifying campaign as good as over, this is a natural time for a parting of the ways.
He has done his best, and for a while that best was working a treat. But even if you have a good plan, are a good manager and there is uncertainty that there are better alternative options available to replace you, sometimes there is no option but to make a change.
Why wait for more reflection at the end of a campaign when the next man can get a head-start before the Euros, which represent a far better chance of qualification than World Cups these days.
Strachan resigning (he’ll have to because the SFA won’t remove him) should happen but there is no rush to replace him. And the same is true of the performance director role that Brian McClair vacated.
Yes, McClair left Hampden as long ago as July but Stewart Regan should take a step back from a recruitment process that is said to be getting near to the short-list and interview stage.
If the last two decades have shown anything, it’s that the lack of cohesion from youth development through to the senior national team has been a critical failing.
The performance director and the Scotland manager have to be on the same page.
How often do these two key posts become vacant at the same time? Not very.
If Austin MacPhee is being considered as technical director, for example, head-hunting his Northern Ireland colleague Michael O’Neill as first team coach would make a lot of sense.
Two posts that should be inter-connected require two personalities who see football the same way.
We’ve waited this long for McClair’s successor. A couple more months won’t make a huge difference.
This is actually an opportunity for the SFA to take a holistic approach that has fallen into their lap.
