Leanne Crichton says 'Alarm bells ringing' for Scotland' after World Cup disappointment
- Published
Scotland 'were shadow' of themselves in Ireland loss
Leanne Crichton believes "alarm bells are ringing" after Scotland's failure to reach next year's Women's World Cup.
Tuesday's 1-0 play-off loss to Republic of Ireland denied Pedro Martinez Losa's side a place in Australia and New Zealand.
The Scots reached Euro 2017 and the World Cup in 2019.
"I do fear for the next time that we will be able to qualify for a major tournament," said former Scotland midfielder Crichton.
"I don't see enough coming through the system just now at youth level. Alarm bells are ringing. The next tournament is 2025. You're going to lose a considerable amount of players between now and then."
Real Madrid's Caroline Weir missed a first-half penalty for Scotland before Amber Barrett netted the only goal for the visitors with 18 minutes left.
"There was a real lack of urgency from the touchline," Crichton said on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "If it's not happening, you need to make changes and I thought we were very, very reactive. Ireland were the better team on the night. Are they a better team than Scotland? I don't think so.
"Team selection was OK but I just felt in the latter stages of the game if you've got Erin Cuthbert sitting wasted in a number six position when you're needing goals and you're needing a moment of creativity, I'd have liked to have seen her higher up the pitch.
"You take two defenders off, you put defenders on when you're 1-0 down - it doesn't make sense to me. You've got probably your best in-form striker (Abi Harrison) sitting on the bench, you don't bring her on until 75 minutes when you're 1-0 behind.
"To then go and change to a back three I thought was a strange decision because they were a four v one in terms defenders against a one Ireland striker all night. You should've naturally had that overload anyway.
"I don't think you could've made those types of decisions and not come under fierce criticism."
Scotland's exit comes as Uefa investigates "potential inappropriate behaviour" by Republic of Ireland players after a video of them singing a song containing a pro-IRA chant emerged from their dressing room.