Scotland Men's Football Team

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Scotland head coach Steve Clarke has been answering media questions in the aftermath of Friday's damaging defeat by Germany, and with the Switzerland game to come on Wednesday.

"Disappointing night," he reflected.

"We got a lot of things wrong and we've got to put it right in the next game.

"Try not to concede five goals. Give a better message.

"If I could criticise myself, and I always criticise myself, I start with myself, I maybe gave too much information, which maybe clouded the players a bit on the pitch in terms of what we do with the ball and what we do without the ball.

"So we can work on that and we have worked on that a bit this morning. We'll work on it in the next two days."

Scott Mullen, BBC Sport Scotland en route to Cologne

Farwell Munich, it's been emotional.

We're currently hurtling our way to Cologne on a train with more cases than Harvey Spector. Half a dozen crew, three pundits, a commentator and about 43 pieces of luggage. We travel light.

We also have Marshmallow, my daughter's stowaway. Say hello...

Image source, Scott Mullen

It's easy to give it "the atmosphere was great", but the buzz was different to anything I've ever seen when following Scotland or any club team abroad.

Munich was hit with a Scottish invasion. From Aberdeen to Australia, from young kids to pensioners. This was a celebration where the result of the game was irrelevant. Which came in handy, to be fair.

The Tartan Army took over the place, but now pass Munich on to Romanian and Ukranian fans to keep the party going.

Munich Hauptbahnhof was bursting, but all eyes are now on Wednesday and Cologne. Let's hope Marshmallow will be toasting a win come Wednesday.

Steve Clarke will be keen to "put to bed" the 5-1 hammering by Germany and get his players focused on their next game, believes former Scotland striker Steven Thompson.

Now the attention needs to switch to Switzerland and trying to get back to winning ways, following the Swiss side's win over Hungary.

"Obviously Steve Clarke wants to move on, put this to bed and will be reiterating that to the players today," Thompson told Sportsound.

"They will go over the things they think they did not do right, but he'll very quickly switch the focus to the Switzerland game.

"I imagine they will all have watched that game this afternoon. Switzerland were impressive. "

Having seen Switzerland comfortably defeat 3-1 Hungary, Thompson believes Scotland need to look at a better game plan for their crucial forthcoming clash.

"It's not going to be an easy game. We certainly can't approach it in a similar manner to how we approached the Germany game where we were so passive and didn't lay a glove on them.

"It has to be aggressive - that's what brought us success in the past. We have to play with far more energy and far more confidence."

Image source, Reuters

By Scott Mullen, BBC Sport Scotland in Munich

Saturday Sportsound is in full swing live from our base in Munich, and the topic of chat has reached Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

Former international Neil McCann was critical of the shot stopper for three of Germany's goals on Friday night, but thinks he deserves to keep his place to put things right against Switzerland.

"If I had to be pushed to pick one of the other goalies it would be Zander Clark," he told Sportsound.

"He has kept Craig Gordon out of the Hearts team and that's effectively meant Craig didn't make it into this Scotland squad.

"But I'd honestly keep Gunn in. Although I was critical of him for three of the five goals, I still think he's een excellent in the campaign to get us here in the first place."

Image source, Scott Mullen

Switzerland joined Germany at the top of Scotland's Euro 2024 group after surviving a Hungary fightback to secure victory at Cologne Stadium.

Ludogorets Razgrad striker Kwadwo Duah justified his surprise inclusion by Murat Yakin as he slotted home his first international goal, before Bologna midfielder Michel Aebischer doubled Switzerland's lead on the stroke of half-time.

Hungary improved after the break and Ferencvaros forward Barnabas Varga headed Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai's brilliantly-weighted cross beyond Yann Sommer with 30 minutes left.

However, Monaco forward Breel Embolo secured the three points for the Swiss in stoppage time as the substitute sent a lovely lobbed finish over Peter Gulacsi after a defensive error.

It leaves Scotland, thanks to Friday's 5-1 thumping by hosts Germany, bottom of the group on goal difference and knowing that defeat by Switzerland on Wednesday would all but rule out finishing in the top two.

Read the match report in full here.

Former Scotland forward Kevin Gallacher thinks Steve Clarke's players failed to understand the system they were trying to play against Germany.

"It was a very tough viewing," he told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. "I enjoyed the first 10 minutes - then after that it was a kind of horror show.

"I don’t think we can judge Germany on that. I think Scotland picked a bad day for 11 players not to understand the system and not play together like they normally do.

"I think the shape they wanted to play didn’t quite work and there was no reaction to change that shape until we get that red card and put in a better performance.

"I think a lot of the guys were very nervous. Next thing we know, we get steamrolled.

“I think we worried too much about Germany and their qualities and never concentrated enough on how good our guys can be."

Image source, Getty Images

Graeme Souness' day of joy at receiving a CBE for his services to football - and to charity - was somewhat spoiled by Scotland's Munich mauling and he warns that their next two group games are also against in-form sides.

"We didn’t turn up, they didn’t turn up," the former Scotland and Liverpool captain told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast after the 5-1 Euro 2014 opening defeat by Germany.

"None of them looked in the mirror this morning and thought ‘I did okay last night’.

"I’m not sure what the game plan was. If you’re going to lose, lose by one or two goals. I’m so disappointed. The players will be disappointed with themselves this morning."

Souness pointed out how big a task Scotland now have to qualify from their group, especially as the scale of defeat will make it more difficult to progress if it comes down to goal difference.

"This a really tough group they’re in," he added. "Switzerland have lost one in the last 14, Hungary have lost one in the last 16 before they meet today. These are in-form teams."

Image source, Getty Images

German football journalist Rafa Honigstein was left wondering if "we’re going to see a worse team than Scotland in the Euros".

"We didn’t think anyone would make it so easy for us," he told BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast. "I don’t know what they were trying to do.

"It was the perfect game plan for Germany. Best of both worlds. No pressure and a high line. Germany had so much space.

"It was a very strange performance from Scotland. If they had seen the struggles Germany had with the high press when they were really put under pressure by Greece, or the struggles they had breaking down a very deep, compact Ukraine, they could have picked that plan."

While disparaging of our team, Honigstein was at least impressed with something Scotland brought to the Allianz Arena - their fans.

"I expected them to be in good form," he added. "I think they exceeded expectations.

"I think people just love Scotland fans and they do a lot to maintain their positive image."

• Scotland failed to have a single shot on target in a match at a major tournament for the first time since Euro 1992 against the Netherlands. Their goal came via an Antonio Rüdiger own goal.

• Scotland suffered their heaviest defeat at a major international tournament since losing 7-0 to Uruguay at the 1954 World Cup.

• Scotland conceded five goals in a match for the first time since a friendly v United States in May 2012 (also 5-1) and first in a competitive match since losing 6-0 to Netherlands in a November 2003 Euro qualifier.

• Scotland centre-half Ryan Porteous became the second Scottish player sent off at a major tournament, following Craig Burley in the 1998 World Cup against Morocco.

• It was the first time there had been a sending off in the opening game of the Euros since 2012, when both Sokratis and Wojciech Szczesny were sent off in the 1-1 draw between Poland and Greece.

Image source, PA

Scotland defender Kieran Tierney has paid tribute to the backing the players received from the thousands of Scotland fans inside the stadium at Munich – despite the 5-1 mauling.

The Tartan Army were incredibly vocal throughout the game – and the Arsenal stopper admitted it had given the players goosebumps as they stepped onto the pitch.

“Can’t thank them enough,” he said after the game.

“You can see in the videos when we walked out today it was goosebumps, they’re amazing.”

Tierney admitted the players owed them more to cheer about than an own goal in their next two games as they look to repay the fans’ support.

“It helps us so much and we’re going to need them in the next two games, no doubt,” he said.

“[The goal] gave them a little cheer, but hopefully in the next two games we can give them a lot more to cheer about than that.”

Image source, PA

Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland insists the players not picked by Steve Clarke for the starting XI against Germany are determined to make an impact after the defeat in Munich.

Shankland came on for the final eight minutes of the 5-1 hammering by Julian Nagelsmann’s side, with Clarke having preferred Che Adams and then Ryan Christie up front.

But despite his cameo appearance Shankland backed the coach’s decision – and said the rest of the squad were keen play their part.

“At a major tournament everybody wants to be involved, but the manager goes in there and picks his team he thinks will win the game and that’s his job,” he told BBC Sport Scotland after the game.

“For the rest of us that are in the squad that weren’t in from the start, your job is to come on and try and make an impact.

"That’s always been the case and it remains the mindset of everybody.”

Image source, Getty Images

Callum McGregor says Scotland "have a lot of growth to do" and "have to find a solution" to their poor run of form before facing Switzerland in their second Euro 2024 group game on Wednesday.

Steve Clarke's side are already playing catch-up after Friday's 5-1 opening dismissal by hosts Germany - a result that midfielder McGregor described as "a humbling experience".

But the Celtic captain stressed: "I think, if you are realistic, the game last night, they are on a different level to what we are and it was probably never going to define where we finish in the group.

"Football's full of difficult moments - the only thing that's guaranteed is disappointment. It's how we deal with it, how we process it internally."

McGregor realises it is a test of the squad's mental strength and togetherness.

"It is hard to be positive after what happened last night," he admitted. "Football has a way of keeping you honest and it was a humbling experience.

"It is important you take that lesson, be professional and dust yourself down. We have to hold our hands up, we got it wrong, and now it's up to us to fix it."

After five straight victories all but secured qualification for the finals, the Scots have enjoyed only one win, over minnows Gibraltar, in 10 outings.

"When you go on a bad run, the confidence can start to dip, but it is only us that can change that," McGregor added.

"Everyone will come at us for what is a poor performance, but you can't let that pull us apart. You have to say together, stay strong and prove people wrong.

"The two teams we are playing will smell blood, but we have to find a solution, whatever that may be.

"We've earned the right to be here because we qualified, but now we are at the elite level and we have a lot of growth to do and we've got a lot of work to be done."

Image source, Getty Images

Callum McGregor has apologised to Scotland fans for the 5-1 humbling by Germany that left the midfielder and the rest of squad waking up "with a sour taste in your mouth" the day after what turned out to be his won unhappy 31st birthday.

The Celtic captain was the player left to face the music at Scotland's Saturday media conference after a Euro 2024 opener he reckons "will probably take a couple of days to get over".

"I think the disappointing aspect is the way it happens - the performance," he said.

"They are a good side, they are a top team, they will probably be in around being winners, but I think the sorest thing is that, when you open the tournament, you have such high expectation and we don't deliver as a group.

"You have a sour taste in your mouth this morning because we don't do ourselves justice. We have to apologise to the fans for not putting on a performance they will have been proud of."

McGregor was asked if head coach Steve Clarke or the players had come to any conclusions about what went wrong against the hosts in Munich.

"We've not spoken as a group yet - it is probably too soon for that," he said. "Everybody will be internally processing it and trying to figure out why."

However, McGregor did offer some of his own analysis.

"When you play against top teams and give them too much space then they are going to hurt you," he added.

"When you play against top players, you have to make them uncomfortable and we didn't do that. We didn't get close enough to them.

"After the first goal, you could see the confidence and they can hurt you. We probably didn't manage the game as well as what we should have."