Scotland 'must hit reset button' after Dublin loss - Andy Robertson

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Media caption,

Steve Clarke speaks in his post-match press conference in Dublin

Scotland "let the manager down" and must "hit reset" after a dismal Nations League loss to Republic of Ireland, says captain Andy Robertson.

Steve Clarke's side went down 3-0 in Dublin 10 days after losing a World Cup play-off semi-final to Ukraine.

Armenia were beaten on Wednesday in the Nations League, but Robertson admits Scotland have not "been up to scratch" this year.

"We weren't good enough," he told Premier Sports.

"We've now said that twice in 10 days. We've let the manager down, that's what's so disappointing for us. Every one of us lost our individual battles.

"The fans behind the goal, booing us off were completely correct. That performance is nowhere near good enough in a Scotland jersey.

"We have to hit the reset button because everything was good last year. This year, the performances haven't quite been up to scratch as yet. We need to get back to being consistent. I thought last year that's what we were really good at."

Scotland had opened their Nations League campaign with that 2-0 home win over Armenia at Hampden, and now take on the same opponents in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Having gone eight games unbeaten, Scotland have now missed out on this year's men's World Cup and face a battle to secure a Euro 2024 play-off via the Nations League with the return against Ireland and two games against Ukraine later this year.

'A poor team performance, all round'

Clarke agreed with Robertson that supporters were justified in showing their frustration in Dublin.

Alan Browne scrambled the Irish in front following a corner and Toby Parrott and Michael Obafemi netted well taken goals.

"Ireland deserved to win," Clarke said. "They were on the front foot, we didn't cope with it, we played poorly and we lost. We didn't make the right choices at the right times in the game. It was a poor team performance, all round.

"We gave a soft goal away from a corner, which puts you on the back foot and Ireland got life from that. A lot to look at, a lot to analyse. We have to go to Armenia and get three points.

"This group of players have done fantastic for me and fantastic for their country. We've had two big blows in the space of three games. It's probably the first time in a long time that's happened to us and I'm interested to see how we come back as a group.

"I'm not going to criticise this group of players. Sometimes you have bad days. Unfortunately, we've had two bad days in quick succession. We have to learn to deal with that and move on."

Image source, SNS

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