Scotland captain Andy Robertson was shocked by his side’s sloppy start to Euro 2020 as the Czech Republic ran out 2-0 winners at Hampden Park on Monday.
Steve Clarke’s men were competing in the first match at a major finals in 23 years but Patrik Schick’s double – including an incredible halfway-line goal – downed the Scots.
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And Robertson admitted after the match that it was a difficult result to take, acknowledging that Scotland have to be more clinical if they want to progress to the knockout stages.
“It’s a really tough day and an emotional day for us all. The build-up seeing so many people welcoming us in, the reception we got was incredible,” the Scotland skipper told talkSPORT.
“We had to produce the result and unfortunately we didn’t and it’s tough to take. We’ve got to react quickly and get ready for the game on Friday.
“It’s hard to put your finger on it just now, everyone in the country wanted to get off to a good start.
“With the size of us [in the team] we shouldn’t be conceding goals from set-pieces or second balls. Unfortunately the boy [got a good header and it went into the bottom corner.
Robertson may have identified Scotland’s shortcomings but talkSPORT’s Dean Ashton feels they were undone by something that can’t be legislated for, with Shick’s second goal a moment of genius.
“I didn’t think it was a bad performance, I really didn’t,” Ashton said. The energy was fantastic, they have created chances.
“I don’t think they were particularly worse than the Czechs, I thought it was pretty even.
“I thought Schick was unbelievable. His two finishes. The first one… that’s a ridiculous finish as he’s been in between two centre backs. He’s trying to glance and guide it, it’s an unbelievable header. And the second goal was a once in a career effort.”
The setbacks came before the match even started for Scotland with Kieran Tierney having to sit out and Robertson admitted the team missed the Arsenal man.
Robertson added: “KT is a fantastic player and we ended up going with three centre-backs.
“You don’t get the drive of KT. He overlaps me and sometimes he’s the furthest forward. He just wasn’t right and didn’t make it. It’s day-by-day unfortunately. He’s giving himself every possible chance to play.
“It’s important he doesn’t take any risks and hopefully he’s ready for Friday [against England].”
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Meanwhile, John McGinn believes Scotland are still capable of qualifying out of Group D – but acknowledges it will be a tough task.
No Scotland team has escaped a group at a major tournament – and the odds on Clarke’s side ending that long trend of early exits look remote after making the worst possible start to this summer’s European Championship.
McGinn knows the result means Scotland now have no room for error in their final two games against England and Croatia.
“I don’t think it’s a reality check. Overall we played pretty well, there are things we can improve on, but it’s the first game of the tournament,” the Aston Villa midfielder told STV.
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“We’ve got two games to fix what we need to fix and it’s important we don’t sulk too much. We need to do it the hard way now.
“To give ourselves a chance to get out of this group, we know we need to get at least a point on Friday.
“We know what we need to do, we need to get something at Wembley, it is our own fault as we had an opportunity to get a good result today.
“But we can either sulk about it or we can roll our sleeves up and go and put on a performance and get a result that we are capable of.
“I think there was enough in the game for us to be positive about, we created those chances, so it’s just about taking them and hopefully they will go in on Friday.”
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