Shambolic Bhoys put Scotland on the brink

Four Celtic players lined up for Gordon Strachan’s Scotland in their 1-0 defeat to Georgia in Tbilisi, and none stood out.

In what was a poor night for Celtic’s homeland, Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown, James Forrest, and Leigh Griffiths all made appearances in the disappointing defeat, with the latter two coming off the bench.

Strachan decided to persist with Sunderland striker Steven Fletcher in favour of on-fire Griffiths, whilst James Forrest was also omitted from the starting XI for the usually reliable and vibrant Ikechi Anya.

However, both Mulgrew and Brown made expected starts for the Scots.

It’s hard to defend either of the two Bhoys for what was a dreadful team performance, and, even though the effort was there from the duo, the quality definitely wasn’t.

The usually reliable Mulgrew, has been a mainstay in Strachan’s Scotland squads since his arrival to the job two-and-a-half years ago, and with a lack of quality options available for the Scotland manager at the heart of the defence, it seemed like a sensible decision.

Mulgrew failed to keep out the only goal of the game as he chose to allow Valeri Qazaishvili to come onto the Scotland defence and invited him to shoot, and the Georgian duly delivered as he rattled his strike under the sliding Mulgrew and into the net.

Added to the goal, Mulgrew failed to build well enough from the back to hurt the home side, but much of that was down to the lack of movement coming from Steven Fletcher and Steven Naismith in attack.

Another reason Mulgrew failed to produce was in part down to the midfield, which allows us to move on to Scott Brown’s performance.

The Scotland captain was given the role of breaking up the home sides play and keeping the team steady in what was always going to be a tricky test. And he failed.

Brown couldn’t get a grip on the game whatsoever, as he was part of a non-existent midfield which failed to inspire going forward.

As influential as Brown usually is, there is no dressing up his poor performance in Tbilisi. Not helped by his central midfield partner James Morrison, the former Hibs star seemed to tire the longer the game went on in what was blistering conditions in Georgia.

At no point in the game did you feel as though Brown was ever going to raise the bar or motivate the rest of the players in the squad, and ultimately led the team to a disastrous result in Tbilisi.

Despite the disappointing performances from the starting Bhoys, the same couldn’t be said for James Forrest, who came on in the final half an hour for the ineffective Steven Naismith.

You couldn’t help but feel sorry for the youngster, who tried desperately to spur his team-mates on and pick up the pace going forward for Strachan’s men, but the lack of movement and options for the winger to pick out proved to be costly.

The number one thing you expect from players who have been called upon to play for their national team is fight, and Forrest delivered that at least. You could see what it meant to him to play for his country and his efforts to haul Scotland back into the game couldn’t be doubted.

But a one-man team was never going to be enough in Georgia, and so it proved when the full-time whistle went.

Lastly, it would be harsh on Griffiths to really judge him on tonight’s performance. The Celtic striker was given the thankless task of lifting a dejected Scotland in the final 15 minutes.

Questions will remain as to why Gordon Strachan didn’t start with the former Hibs hotshot, as it had been proven on multiple times in the past that Steven Fletcher was failing to make sufficient impact when called upon.

But Celtic’s number nine didn’t get the nod until the 75th minute when he came on for Anya to give the Scots a bit of extra firepower for the final stages – in what was a must-not-lose match.

Griffiths desperately tried to make some sort of impact, but yet again the striker was getting no help from his team-mates as a continued lack of care and fight was shown from the rest of the Scots.

So, in what was a thoroughly disappointing night for the Scots, the Hoops that played in the team hardly covered themselves in glory with their own performances.