Shot-shy Scots needed goals - so why leave Shankland on bench for so long?

Scotland players following Sunday's Euro 2024 group-stage exit after Hungary won 1-0 thanks to a dramatic added-time goal in the Stuttgart Arena. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

What do you do when everything isn’t enough? How are we supposed to feel about a team and a manager who put in the maximum possible effort, failed to make an impression on a tournament enhanced by the world’s most magnificent travelling support – and then followed the usual pattern by being sent homeward tae think again?

If there is a depressing familiarity about Scotland’s post-Euro 2024 debate already in full swing, the generations raised on a regular diet of qualification, optimism, elimination, cloth rending anguish and blood-thirsty inquests can testify to two things. First, it is absolutely necessary for the nation to vent its collective frustration; a cathartic primal scream is an important part of the healing process.

And secondly? When all the arguing about what Steve Clarke SHOULD have done eventually fizzles out, we’ll be left with one universally acknowledged truth. Scotland are not good enough. Not where it matters most.

That’s been the case for a very, very long time now. Qualifying for two of the past three tournaments, taking our place in a European Championships now open to 24 of UEFA’s 55 member nations, represents improvement. But our performances at those major finals only serves to underline our status as also-rans on the biggest stage.

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It's perfectly acceptable, then, to feel proud of Clarke and his players for giving their all – yet also admit that they lacked the basic quality, wit and creativity to truly trouble Hungary in a must-win game. If you’ve got the stomach to face the brutal truth, let’s take a look at where it went wrong.

Why leave goals sitting on the bench?

No team at these Championships has recorded fewer attempts on goal – on or off target – than Clarke’s Scotland. With 20 nations still to play their final group games, that is a damning statistic. An indictment of a side who rarely made life truly uncomfortable for opposition defences.

You can’t seriously complain about being eliminated when, over the course of three Group A fixtures, you’ve accumulated a total of THREE shots on target. And, OK, not everyone has embraced data as a way of providing insight into football’s complex patterns – but an xG (expected goals) of 0.13 in the make-or-break encounter with Hungary is a miserable reflection of Scotland’s lack of cutting edge.

Would Lawrence Shankland being given more game time have changed that? Well, there are still doubts about whether Shankland is built to lead the line as a lone striker in international football. Especially in a Scotland set-up not renowned for creating chances.

But leaving the Hearts goal machine on the bench until the final quarter hour of regulation time in a must-win game felt like a mis-step by Clarke. And throwing Shankland on as a direct replacement for Che Adams was hardly the bold gamble of a gaffer chasing victory.

With James Forrest given zero minutes of playing time, despite hitting a hot scoring streak for Celtic during the run-in to the domestic season, it never looked as if Clarke had a plan – not one he believed in, anyway – to put opponents under serious pressure in their own penalty box. Possession is pointless, unless you have the other guy furiously fretting about what you do with it.

That’s a penalty …

Anger doesn’t make you smarter. So we’ll cut Clarke some slack over his slightly bizarre refence to the nationality of referee Facundo Tello; the official being from Argentina had nothing to do with his inability to spot a penalty.

Scotland claimed for a penalty late on when Stuart Armstrong appeared to be fouled by Hungary's Willi Orban. | PA

Of more concern to Scotland fans is the inability/unwillingness of VAR to intervene when Stuart Armstrong was clearly fouled – taken out from behind after putting himself in a great scoring position – by Willi Orban. As fans of Scottish football understand only too well, all the technology in the world can’t help if the officials sitting in front of the screen are inept.

Caught in a time loop

It was all a bit Mexico ’86. With a little dash of France ’98 thrown in for good measure.

Younger readers may not be overly familiar with the first reference. But sometimes you have to delve deep into the history books in order to explain current affairs.

In Scotland’s final group game at the World Cup in Mexico, a nation’s hopes were dashed by failure to beat the 10 men of Uruguay. Now remembered mainly for the thuggery of the South Americans, the subject of some spicy post-match quotes by Alex Ferguson and Ernie Walker, plenty of us also recall just how toothless Scotland were in attack.

When we needed a goal, we could only create one half chance, which famously fell to Stevie Nicol. Last night in Stuttgart, Grant Hanley was the defender being asked to do a striker’s job when a ball fell to him in the box.

The hours spent mulling over defeat to the Hungarians, and Scotland’s failings over the course of three games, also brought to mind memories of Craig Brown complaining about a lack of forward firepower undermining his team’s efforts to progress beyond the group stages at the 1998 World Cup. Certain recurring themes are beginning to get a little annoying.

We’ll be back

Qualification for the European Championships should be a given. Even before they get around to expanding the finals to 32 teams, taking more than half of UEFA’s total membership to a major tournament every two years, this is a competition that offers Scotland achievable regular exposure to the big time.

Getting back to a World Cup, the next challenge facing Clarke and his players, is going to be tougher. As it should be.

The late Jock Stein famously said that his Scotland team needed to wear their working clothes during qualification – and then don their best suits tournament football. Clarke’s got the boiler suit element of that equation down pat. When it comes time to mix with the great and good, should he – can he - tailor his tactics to create something more appropriate to the occasion?