Tom English: Scotland’s ill-fated World Cup story finally at a sorry end
There is a view that the Scotland team is full of quality, but if you are brutally honest there is little validity to that argument.
This is a team full of effort. There are good and very good players sprinkled around the team, but the collective is, at best, decidedly average in the rarefied air of the World Cup.
This is not to disparage players who are discouraged for their country; an attempt to explain the real world in which they live. Angus Gunn can’t get a game for Nottingham Forest. Aaron Hickey is an excellent player, but he’s been jinxed by injury. Nathan Patterson is struggling to find game time with Everton. Jack Hendry finished seventh in the Saudi Pro League. Grant Hanley, for all his amazing stamina, is not a top international defender.
After a mistake against Morocco, Hanley was replaced by Scott McKenna against Brazil. McKenna made a disastrous mistake seven minutes later. He is a good player who has just won the Croatian League with Dinamo Zagreb.
Number of Croatia-based players in the World Cup squad: two. Number of people participating in the games so far: 1.
In last season’s Europa League, Dinamo finished 23rd in their group of 36, so McKenna’s team is struggling at a higher level because, frankly, his team is not top of the European class.
Kieran Tierney is a great footballer but injuries are limiting his impact. He played every 90 minutes a game all season. Andy Robertson has been superb at Liverpool for many years, but he was not on the bench for most of his Premier League appearances last season.
There has been a lot of talk about Scott McTominay. A talisman that isn’t exactly a talisman when you’re going up against really big players in midfield.
McTominay has the ability to create great individual moments and is arguably one of Serie A’s true stars. The point is how good is Serie A?
Napoli were champions of Italy two seasons ago, but in the last season of the Champions League they finished 30th, winning two of eight matches. Serie A, and Italian football in general, is not what it used to be.
The Azzurri have failed to qualify for the last three World Cups. It was a huge task for McTominay to expect that just because he had enlightened Naples, he would also enlighten the affairs of America.
John McGinn is loved. He achieved so much with the Scotland jersey, but the song “Super John McGinn” has become more of a sad cry than a statement of fact. As the highly respected leader of Aston Villa, McGinn needs strong players around him to be successful.
Clarke played him on the left – not his best position – because he needed the pace of Ben Gannon-Doak on the right. Gannon-Doak is a genuinely exciting prospect, but his high status in Scotland overshadows the fact that he is injured and has only played 150 minutes for Bournemouth this season.
Ryan Christie, another admirable player drafted from his best position at the club, made just nine league appearances for Bournemouth, making 17 appearances as a substitute.
The impressive Lewis Ferguson was arguably the pick of Scotland’s players in America, although he wasn’t always a guaranteed starter for Bologna.
None of Scotland’s strikers could land a single blow, partly because they had so little to feed on. Those who played made difficult but fruitless changes. None of these men lacked effort. They were clearly desperate to do good.
