Scared football. It is a phrase which has entered the Scottish sporting lexicon of late as Gordon Strachan has embarked upon his personal crusade to halt the declining standards of our national game.

The saying originates, according to Strachan, from Portugal where it is used to describe teams which fail to show any composure or imagination when in possession and which try to offload the ball as quickly as it is received.

It could quite easily, though, have applied to the Scotland performance as they faced France, Patrice Evra, Oliver Giroud, N’Golo Kante, Hugo Lloris, Dimitri Payet, Paul Pogba, Bacaray Sagna et al, in the Stade Saint-Symphorien on Saturday evening.

Seeing Didier Deschamps’ group of players – who were, to a man, stronger, faster and more skilful - marauding towards them as they were roared on by their vocal home support must have been a truly frightening experience.

The visitors’ defending was panicky, the standard of their passing pathetic and their attacks virtually non-existent. Thank goodness for David Marshall. Had the goalkeeper not been in such inspired form the scoreline could have been far greater and the loss suffered even more demoralising.

It was, at times, highly concerning stuff. Certainly, the national team’s supporters present could be forgiven for looking forward to their Russia 2018 qualifying campaign, and games against England, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania and Malta, with a sense of some trepidation.

Yet, before we look at our national team, and the implications of their 1-0 loss to Italy eight days ago and 3-0 defeat to France at the weekend, mention must be made of the opposition they faced in their end-of-season friendlies.

Italy will, as is almost always the case, be difficult to beat at the Euro 2016 finals this week and definitely have a chance, albeit a slight one, of winning. But France, the bookmakers’ favourites to prevail in their homeland, really are something else.

When Anthony Martial, the Manchester United forward who had just helped the Old Trafford club win the FA Cup, Yohan Cabaye, the Crystal Palace man who was a losing finalist at Wembley, Antoine Griezmann, a defeated Champions League finalist with Atletico Madrid, and Lucas Digne, the Roma defender come, off the bench you know you are up against some team.

How good would they be if Karim Benzema, under investigation for blackmail and omitted by Deschamps from the squad, of Real Madrid was present? It is quite a thought.

So how much should Scotland and Strachan be castigated for both the Italy and France losses? Only time will tell. As the European Championship finals progress and they square up to their fellow tournament contenders it will become clear just how good they both are. If, say, Germany, Spain or Belgium are brushed aside with similar ease it will put the losses in a different perspective.

But the fairly statistics are damning for Strachan’s men. They managed just two shots at target, both of which were off target, in the 180 minutes of football they played in Malta and Metz. It is hard to remember an opposition goalkeeper not being tested even once, even against a leading footballing nation, by Scotland in the past.

Scott Brown, Leigh Griffiths and James Morrison should be available come next season. But will the absentees really make such a vast difference given just how ineptly the team acquitted itself at times in the past fortnight?

Still, only England will be capable of scaling the heights that either Italy or France have done this month in the World Cup qualifying campaign. It is way too early to suggest that we have no chance of ending our lengthy absence from the finals of a major competition.

Remember, back in March the Czech Republic were defeated in Prague and Denmark were overcome in Glasgow. Both of those displays, admittedly, left much to be desired. Keepers Allan McGregor and Craig Gordon were outstanding. Nevertheless, 1-0 wins over decent rivals were recorded.

Charlie Mulgrew, the Celtic defender who started against Italy and came on against France in Metz, is confident that Scotland will be unaffected by the experiences when they take to the field in their Group F opener against Malta in the Ta’ Qali Stadium in September. Indeed, he feels they will be better for them.

“We’ve got to move on quickly,” he said. “These two defeats won’t affect our confidence, if anything they’ll help us. This is what we’re going to be up against when we face the likes of England.

“These two games have really helped us realise what we have to do and what we’ll be up against. You’re better to play the best and then you know where you are and it’s up to us to work to get to that level and all our focus is now on World Cup qualifying.

“We were up against a world class team who showed how good they are and they were up for it in their final game before the Euros. They treated it like a competitive game. We tried our best to do that, but it’s a world class team who played the way they can play. But it will stand us in good stead.”

Strachan, whose side conceded two goals to Giroud and another to his Arsenal team mate Laurent Koscielny in the first half, has been questioned by some for allowing his attention to wonder to the wider ills of Scottish football. Surely, people have asked, he should be focusing on the job he is actually paid to do?

But the Italy and France games have underlined how far behind Europe’s elite Scotland lag. Strachan is right to push for much-needed change. He has the profile and gravitas to make a real difference.

In the meantime, Stephen Kingsley, Barrie McKay and Callum Paterson, three players who made their international debuts, will certainly know how much more they can improve after coming up against some of the world’s very best.