Scotland got their World Cup qualifying campaign up and running with a comeback draw. Eric Nicolson picks three talking points from the Hampden Park clash with Austria.
1: The system has to stay
Isn’t it nice to have an international week without a word being spoken about whether Kieran Tierney or Andy Robertson should be starting at left-back, or if one of them should be shunted out to the right.
The best bit about the three centre-halves formation that Steve Clarke has settled upon has been Tierney’s adaptation to his role on the left of it, no doubt aided by the fact he is sometimes deployed there for Arsenal.
It hasn’t curtailed his instincts to drive forward and, if anything, he was more of an attacking threat down that side than Robertson in the first half.
The Liverpool defender was much more like himself in the second period – coming on to the ball and sending over the sort of crosses Sadio Mane and Mo Salah would be happy to accept, never mind Lyndon Dykes and Ryan Christie.
Clarke talked up the potential of switching to a back four at some point in the near future but there are far more risks to that than rewards. The argument should be settled. Three at the back it is.
2: It was right that Scott McTominay came out of defence (but the debate about his replacement will go on)
It worked as a temporary solution in the Euro 2020 play-offs – worked better than anybody could have hoped for actually – but McTominay is of far greater use to Scotland in his natural habitat than in the backline.
There were a few worrying gaps in the centre of the pitch early on but once the game settled down, the Manchester United regular made his physical prowess and composure tell. Twice he was able to swat away his marker to set Stuart Armstrong up for a shot towards the end of the first 45.
The only reason that Clarke may yet decide to drop him deeper again, particularly when Ryan Jack is fit again, is that Jack Hendry did not make an overwhelming case for a long run in the side.
By and large he used the ball astutely (which I expected) and was positionally sound (which I probably didn’t) but he was slow to react to David Marshall spilling the shot which resulted in Austria’s opening goal and he didn’t get tight enough to Sasa Kalajdzic for the second.
Austria are back in front!
Scotland have to do it the hard way again as Kalajdzic grabs his second of the night with a superb nod.
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Nobody will persuade me that Jason Kerr wouldn’t have done better than Hendry.
3: A win in Israel is now a must
Twice coming from behind against the second-highest ranked nation in the group makes this result palatable.
The reluctance to commit men forward until Scotland were behind and the decision to not start Che Adams told me that Clarke was looking at this fixture as must not lose rather than must win.
There is a lot to be said for early momentum, though. And history tells us that when Scotland don’t get it, they invariably don’t qualify.
There is encouragement to be taken from the fact that Austria are no more than a decent team, who play well below their world ranking of 23.
And even greater encouragement can be taken from the fact that Scotland were at their best when inspired by the jeopardy of going behind.
The moral of the story is that a cagey performance won’t suffice in Israel at the weekend.
There needs to be the 1-0 down and 2-1 down urgency we saw at Hampden from the first minute.
GOAL! Scotland 2-2 Austria (McGinn, 85)
Follow #SCO vs #AUT in the #FIFAWorldCupQualifiers here: https://t.co/d1kYPuLSVJ
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) March 25, 2021
Scotland have the midfield drive and power to pin middle-ranking teams back and the more Clarke’s men can get Robertson on the overlap, the more the strikers will be inclined to gamble with near and front post runs.
Realistically, this draw has ended any chances of winning the group. A second draw would make finishing as runner-up a very tall order as well.
