There have been bad nights at the national stadium over the years, alright, and Tuesday night’s dire defeat to Northern Ireland was right down there with the worst of them. But where once these harrowing Hampden evenings were the norm, this one was a shock to the system simply because it had been so long since the last.
For that, the group of players who were involved in it deserve at least a modicum of understanding and patience. And it is something that is helping the Scotland squad not only digest what happened on the night, but also to maintain a sense of perspective about it.
Ryan Christie has known the good times and the bad with his country, and he was hurting just as much as any other Scot in the aftermath of the desperately disappointing performance against Michael O’Neill’s men.
But he doesn’t share any creeping concerns that the Tartan Army may have about the direction of travel of Steve Clarke’s side ahead of the European Championships, having now extended their winless run to seven matches.
READ MORE: No excuses for Scotland this time on worrying night for Steve Clarke at Hampden
The Bournemouth man understands fans’ frustrations, and even their concerns going into the Euros, but he says that maintaining an eye on the bigger picture is allowing the Scotland players to retain their spirit as Germany approaches.
“After the qualification route that we’ve just had, I can’t remember the last time we had had a bad night at Hampden,” Christie said.
“It’s been amazing over the last few years. You start getting used to that, so this was maybe a gentle reminder that it takes a performance when teams come here to put them away.
“It’s obviously understandable where the frustration comes from. It’s been a while since we’ve not scored a goal at Hampden.
“But we go into the summer still full of confidence and hopefully in the send-off game at Hampden we can put a good performance and result together.
“I said it after the Netherlands game - the gaffer is good at keeping us level through the highs and lows of it all.
“It’s not like we got battered against Northern Ireland. We didn’t create enough chances, or as many as we should, especially at home. But the only shot they had all night was the one that went in.
"It’s frustrating to lose the game first and foremost - it’s all about results. But we need to have a bit of perspective, hopefully get two wins going into the Euros and everyone is buzzing for that.
“It was obviously frustrating because of the scoreline. For the most part, we dominated possession but they made it very, very difficult to create chances or to get in behind them.
“Obviously that’s the way they play, and we knew what to expect coming into the game, but it just felt a bit sticky and when they got the goal, they had something to hold onto which made it that bit harder for us.”
Christie doesn’t buy into the theory that having qualified for a major tournament so comfortably, Scotland don’t really know how to react to the alien situation they find themselves in, with so many so-called ‘meaningless’ games bridging the qualification group and the finals themselves.
Might it even have been better to qualify this week through the playoffs to ensure they would be riding a wave of euphoria all the way to Germany, rather than being stuck somewhat in this preparatory purgatory?
“Not really,” he countered.
“We prefer it this way than the other way. It’s obviously frustrating and not the camp we wanted. We knew the Netherlands would be a tough game, but we were desperate to get a win on the board on Tuesday night.
“It wasn’t to be, but we’ve got two more friendlies before the Euros and hopefully we can bounce back and get on a winning streak again going into the tournament. We play Gibraltar then we’ve got the game back at Hampden [against Finland] which will be nice to play in front of the fans before we head out to Germany.
“After this, everyone is just desperate to meet up again and get going again. Hopefully everyone goes back to their clubs and ends the season well, then we’ll look forward to hopefully a good summer.
“The good thing is that these games didn’t really mean anything. It’s not like we were going into a play-off game on Tuesday night. We’ve got a few things that we can definitely work on going into the Euros but when it rolls around I’m sure that everyone will be ready.
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“The Northern Ireland game was a bit different - a bit of a frustrating night. You felt that through the team and in the stands as well. The Netherlands one was maybe a bit more of a warning that when you come up against good teams like we’re going to do at the Euros, you need to stay in the game the whole time.
“There are plenty of lessons from this camp that will help us going into the Euros.”
Arguably the main one is that you have to be clinical at international level, with the Scots failing to score in either of the games in this window despite creating numerous clear-cut opportunities, mostly against The Netherlands.
“As soon as we meet up in June, I’m sure that’s something we will be working on,” Christie added.
“We’ll be coming up with new ideas and ways to break teams down.
“Obviously it will be a bit different at the Euros - I can’t imagine many teams playing against us like that, to be fair. But we need to be getting on the scoresheet.”
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