Scotland’s hopes of causing a major upset in the opening match of Euro 2024 ground to a halt after just 20 minutes on Friday night, as Jamal Musiala lashed home a wonderful effort from just inside the Scottish penalty area to put the hosts 2-0 up.
The Germans may have come into the tournament under pressure to deliver, but their five star show against Steve Clarke’s men has certainly boosted expectations.
Scotland, on the other hand? The pressure to gain a result against Switzerland on Wednesday evening has just increased massively, as a loss will likely end their hopes of qualifying for the second round.
Not one person in the starting XI stood out, as the defence were very suspectable to the sheer speed of the German attack.
Scotland struggled to cope with the Germans
As the game edged towards half-time, going into the break just two goals down wouldn’t have been a bad result considering how poorly Clarke’s men had performed.
With just a minute to go, Ryan Porteous made a block to prevent iIkay Gundogan from scoring from a rebound, but his trailing leg went straight into his ankle, giving Germany a penalty and resulting in the Watford centre-back being sent off.
Porteous looked shaky on his major tournament debut, completing just 16 passes during the first half while also delivering just one accurate long ball from four attempts and losing possession six times.
His sending off will mean Clarke has to reshuffle his defence ahead of the clash against the Swiss, especially as Anthony Ralston was arguably just as poor as Porteous on Friday evening.
Anthony Ralston’s game in numbers vs Germany
Truth be told, if Aaron Hickey or Nathan Patterson were fully fit and in the squad, Ralston would be nowhere near the starting XI against the hosts.
In fact, he may not have even been in the 26-man squad full stop. It was apparent during the first ten minutes that the Celtic defender was out of his depth, struggling to cope with Bayer Leverkusen sensation Florian Wirtz on the flank.
Accurate passes
15/21
Total duels won
4/6
Possession lost
11
Dribble attempts (successful)
1 (0)
Touches
37
He may have won four of his six total duels, yet Ralston – who was handed a measly 3/10 match rating by GOAL's Richard Mills – completed only 15 passes, managed just 37 touches and lost the ball 11 times during the game. That ensured he squandered possession roughly every 3.4 touches, a grim return.
Hickey and Patterson love bursting forward on a regular basis, but Ralston failed to support the attack, failing with his only dribble attempt along with not making a key pass during the clash.
Unfortunately, Clarke doesn’t have many other options to replace Ralston for the crunch tie on Wednesday evening against the Swiss, yet it may be worth considering a tactical reshuffle to oust the full-back from the starting lineup – with club colleague James Forrest one potential solution on that flank.
The tartan army will expect a much better showing against a team who are certainly beatable, but much will depend on how low the morale is around the Scotland camp.
Putting the 5-1 defeat firmly behind them is the best course of action, especially as there are still six points to play for in the group.
With four of the best third placed sides qualifying for the second round, four points may even be enough to make it through to the coveted knockout stages.
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