Friday in Georgia wasn’t an aberration. It was the continuation of the curve. And hopefully the end of it.
Since Ireland were beaten by Scotland at Celtic Park last November, Gordon Strachan has got his tactics and/or team wrong in every competitive match.
There was the crazy defensive set-up that made for a needlessly fraught first half against Gibraltar at Hampden. He got too clever for his own good, but the standard of opposition ensured passing embarrassment rather than points punishment.
Then in Dublin the decision to try and match up Ireland’s physicality down the right by bringing Craig Forsyth on to the left of the field from leftfield was misguided. That could have been very costly, but after another average performance, Strachan got away with that one too.
Where did he go wrong in Tbilisi?
As I suspected the likes of Naismith, Hutton and Maloney played like under-cooked footballers, and Steven Fletcher played like he has any time he’s pulled on a Sunderland shirt in recent times.
McArthur or Darren Fletcher should have been a sitting midfielder instead of either Brown or Morrison. Had that been the case, Georgia wouldn’t have scored.
The withdrawal of Robertson and replacing him on the left with Mulgrew was bizarre. Scotland eventually got bodies in the box in the last 20 minutes, but we didn’t have our best crosser of a ball on the pitch to find them.
Team selections and substitutions can make you look like a mug or a magician. The biggest failing of the head coach in Georgia however, and in other recent matches, is that Strachan’s Scotland no longer plays like Strachan’s Scotland.
The team has lost its way, and so has he.
Nearly as worrying as the insipid performance was Strachan’s observation on the national side’s lack of identity.
“What is the real Scotland? I’d love to find out what exactly that is..as far as I’m concerned we do not have a trademark style of play. We look for that, we’ve looked for a long time.”
Compare that to what he said early in his reign.
“I can’t change our players or their physical capabilities, so we’ve got a system that works.”
We had it once, then. A system, a trademark style of play.
It was quick pass and move football. Triangles out of midfield into attack. Getting Ikechi Anya in behind his full-back. Springing James Morrison in support. Shaun Maloney thriving in the space his team-mates were creating for him.
What we’ve been seeing in the last few games is the dreaded passing for the sake of passing. Passive possession.
It lulls you into thinking that you’re doing OK. Just as Strachan probably felt at half-time in Georgia.
But you aren’t. You’re treading water.
Scotland didn’t have nearly as much of the ball in Germany. And they didn’t have most of the ball in Poland. But they were a much more potent threat than on Friday evening.
If Strachan wants a reminder of what the Scotland way is, or he wants to remind is team, he should put on the DVD of the goal they scored a year ago to the day in Dortmund.
This is not too deep a hole. Ireland are a poor side. Third place is attainable.
Scotland will probably lose tonight. But, at the very least they need to lose with the adventurous zest of 365 days ago.
Get that back, and Strachan will be reacquainted with the “real Scotland”. Then beating Poland in their do or die fixture won’t seem like the tall order it does just now.