EURO 2024 didn’t start in the way any of Celtic’s Scottish contingent intended on Friday night after falling to a 5-1 defeat at the hands of Germany.
It was always going to be a difficult task for Steve Clarke’s side to secure a positive result against the tournament hosts in the opening game, but the manner of defeat still stung harshly.
The set-up and approach of the team was more akin to a lower league team visiting Celtic Park than what you’d expect to see at the elite level in football. Scotland had no ambition and no aggressive plan to counteract what Toni Kroos and his team had to offer.
Anthony Ralston and Callum McGregor both started the match but they found the 90 minutes as difficult as the rest of their teammates.
No one person is really to blame and scapegoating is unnecessary, despite Graeme Souness’ best efforts on ITV punditry to single out the Celtic captain.
Roy Keane has his say on Scotland vs Germany
However, criticism of the team in general was valid and former Bhoys midfielder Roy Keane summed it up best post-match.
Responding to an interview from Andy Robertson, Keane was fuming with what he witnessed from Scotland, stating on ITV: “It’s all well and good having a plan, he said then ‘We weren’t aggressive enough’. You have to be aggressive in a game of football. Being up against opposition who are much stronger than you, being aggressive is part of a footballer.
“I love watching skilful players, absolutely love it and the talent we saw from the German players tonight was great to watch. But my goodness, when you are playing football at this level, you’ve got to hit people. Hit them properly, hit them aggressively and do it in the right way.
“We spoke before the game about creating history. They are creating history all right… by playing as bad as that and letting their manager and supporters down. The tackle for the penalty and sending off, that was madness, of course. Being aggressive is part of the game but they didn’t lay a glove on them.”
Keane’s comments may be construed as basic analysis but that’s the problem really – Scotland didn’t do any of the basics well.
There was no organised press, they sat far too deeply and invited Germany into tonnes of space around the Scottish box.
A change of approach will be needed against Switzerland and Hungary or this tournament will quickly turn into a disaster for the country.
