Netherlands 4-0 Scotland: Pedro Martinez Losa left with midfield headache
- Published
Highlights: Netherlands 4-0 Scotland
"We were given a footballing lesson," was Lisa Evans' glum reaction to Scotland's 4-0 drubbing by the Netherlands.
The 31-year-old, who earned her 100th cap in Nijmegen, has been dealt a few of those during her 12-year run in the national team, but this was a particularly sobering Nations League experience which leaves Scotland detached at the bottom of Group A1 at the halfway stage.
It was always going to be an uphill battle in the absence of Caroline Weir, Erin Cuthbert and Sam Kerr. Throw in the loss of rising star Emma Watson too and it's an absurdly unfair headache for Pedro Martinez Losa when it comes to midfield selection.
Real Madrid. Chelsea. Bayern Munich. Manchester United. No international manager wants to lose a player from any of those clubs, never mind all of them.
The head coach opted for youth, handing Kirsty MacLean, 18, and Amy Rodgers, 23, their first starts. However, the teenager was removed at half-time, alongside Claire Emslie, in search of a "refresh and energy".
Seasoned campaigners Evans and 54-time capped Fiona Brown were the replacements and that plan flopped.
So Martinez Losa will have to quickly muster up a different blueprint for Tuesday's return game at Hampden in this Dutch double-header, starting with his midfield quandary.
MacLean is held in exceedingly high-regard at Rangers. Her nickname 'Ini' (for Iniesta, of course) should tell you that. Many have hopes that she will be next to break into that top-tier of talented Scots.
She wasn't given a sniff in the second half, despite not noticeably putting a foot wrong.
The switches at half-time caught both former Scotland internationals and Sportscene pundits Jen Beattie and Leanne Crichton off guard, with the latter saying: "I'm not sure this was an opportunity for trial and error."
Arsenal defender Beattie added: "I feel he needs to give the youngsters a bit more of an opportunity and a bit longer, 45 minutes is not an awful lot of time in football."
It felt it at the Gofferstadion, though. After the interval, Scotland never laid a glove on an opponent ranked seventh in the world and now unbeaten in 17 home games.
The visitors had a dominant spell at 1-0 down before conceding the second, but in the second half it was second gear stuff for Andries Jonker's side.
Much has been made of the consistently competitive nature of Scotland's recent encounters with top sides but this was a big backward step against a Dutch side who had the luxury of parading returning striker Vivianne Miedema with a late cameo.
Scotland were miles off it. And they know it.
In days gone by, there may have been too much of an emphasis of near non-existent positives. But not from this group. They own their mistakes.
Captain Rachel Corsie wouldn't be sucked into blaming the cruel run of injuries that has wiped out the first-choice midfield that usually sits in front of her. "I think we have quality, we just gave them too many options when they had the ball," she said.
Martinez Losa assumed "total responsibility" for what transpired, taking some of the heat off his outclassed players.
Tuesday now has the look of a must-win game, if Scotland have ambitions of remaining in League A of the competition. And a second bite so soon at the Dutch is exactly what the players will want, according to 143-cap Beattie.
"They'll be quite happy they're playing them again in the next few days, that's what you want," she said. It's easy to come back from a loss, there is so much to work on going into Tuesday's game."
There isn't a lot of time for the Spaniard to coax up a concoction that will spook the Dutch on Halloween, so he best get to work on a magic potion to ease the midfield migraine he endured in Nijmegen.