GORDON Strachan recovered impressively after Celtic were thrashed 5-0 by little-known Artmedia Bratislava in a Champions League qualifier in Slovakia in his opening game in charge back in 2005.

The Parkhead club won the Scottish title three times, the League Cup twice, the Scottish Cup once and progressed to the knockout rounds of Europe’s premier club competition on two occasions during his four year tenure.

However, it is doubtful that Strachan will survive as Scotland manager should his team slump to a defeat, regardless of the severity, in the country where he suffered one of his most infamous losses tomorrow evening.

Read more: Matthew Lindsay: A radical overhaul of the youth set-up is required for Scotland to fulfil their World Cup ambitionsThe Herald:

Even a draw in the Russia 2018 qualifier with Slovakia in the Stadion Antona Malatinskeho in Trnava could make his position with the national team untenable.

Technically, with seven games remaining and 21 points still up for grabs in Group F, failing to pick up three points wouldn’t end Scottish hopes of securing a place at the next World Cup.

Read more: Matthew Lindsay: A radical overhaul of the youth set-up is required for Scotland to fulfil their World Cup ambitions

But what possible chances would there be of a revival if they are unable to overcome Lithuania at home and a Slovakia team which had been defeated twice in their section? Top seeds and group leaders England at Wembley, after all, are next up. It is not an appealing prospect at the moment.

The calls for Strachan to depart, which increased considerably in the wake of a wretched 1-1 draw with Lithuania at Hampden on Saturday evening, among the support would escalate and be difficult for him to ignore.

His men failed to overcome opponents whose only victories in the last two and half seasons had come against San Marino and Estonia at the weekend. Their first half display was alarming, their second half performance not a great deal better.

Yes, the home team certainly battled back well after falling behind to a Fedor Cernych goal which their centre half Grant Hanley will not have enjoyed watching back on the hour mark. They equalised through substitute James McArthur with a minute or regulation time remaining and could have snatched victory.

Robert Snodgrass had a goal-bound effort headed clear, James Forrest shot wide of an open goal and Leigh Griffiths had a header palmed away. But it was all desperate stuff and they could just as easily have fallen further behind.

Scotland were certainly not helped by referee Tobias Stieler - the German official who was handling his first, and hopefully last, international match - during the course of 90 hugely frustrating minutes.

Stieler somehow missed the blatant barge on Leigh Griffiths by Egidijus Vaitkunas inside the Lithuania penalty box in the third minute of injury time. It wasn’t the only incident involving that defender which the match official failed to punish.

Vaitkunas took out Andy Robertson with an elbow to his neck in the first half – a shocking foul which somehow only merited a yellow card – and then rugby tackled Chris Martin to the ground as he attempted to direct a shot at goal.

But these injustices should not be allowed to deflect attention from a bitterly disappointing showing and costly result and, to be fair to Strachan, he refused to point the finger of blame as he looked back on the game yesterday.

“I never thought much about it,” he said. “I thought Griff was bundled when he went for the ball. There were a couple of other things. But I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”

Strachan has more to concern himself with. The rumblings of discontent which started during a Euro 2016 qualifying campaign that promised so much before ending in another failure have grown. Drawing to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin and losing to Georgia in Tbilisi didn’t go down well. Neither did this.

His insistence on starting Martin, who has scored once in his last 22 games, up front ahead of Griffiths, who has banged in eight in 12 matches, or even Steven Fletcher, who has netted four times in seven appearances, was the source of much annoyance to Scotland fans.

Yes, the Fulham forward is a different kind of player to his Celtic team mate. But a side which has struggled for goals could benefit greatly from having such a prolific marksman in the starting line-up. Strachan suggested a change may be imminent.

“The trend that I saw in the European Championship finals is that there is a bigger striker playing up front for most countries," said Strachan. "They don’t have to be the quickest, they just have to bring other people into play. There is one of them in nearly every team. So that was the idea.

Read more: Matthew Lindsay: A radical overhaul of the youth set-up is required for Scotland to fulfil their World Cup ambitions

“But we have got other options. Steven (Fletcher) can do similar, Griff is a wee bit different and we have got Naisy (Steven Naismith) who can play up front as well. You just pick the one that you think is going to be right on the night. It might be different in different games.”

It would, of course, be just like Scotland to pull a performance and result out of the bag when they take on Slovakia. The pressure is well and truly on and their chances have been written off. They are never more dangerous than in those circumstances.

But if they do so, the topsy-turvy nature of Group F could mean that, if they are able to turn things around and finish as runners-up, they run the risk of being the one second-placed country left out of the play-offs. That would be just like Scotland as well.