Andy Robertson on 3-0 defeat to Republic of Ireland: Scotland fans 'completely correct' to boo
Scotland captain Andy Robertson: "To the fans behind the goal booing us off, completely correct. We know they travel a long way, we know they pay a lot of money and that performance is nowhere near good enough in a Scotland jersey. The overall performance was nowhere good enough."
Sunday 12 June 2022 06:56, UK
Andy Robertson admitted Scotland deserved to be booed off by the Tartan Army following their dismal 3-0 defeat by the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
After losing their World Cup play-off semi-final to Ukraine at Hampden Park, the Scots began their Nations League campaign with a 2-0 home win over Armenia.
The result and performance gave Steve Clarke's men confidence for the trip to Dublin to play an Irish side who had lost their opening two League B Group One games and indeed were looking for their first ever Nations League win.
But the home side dominated from the start and goals from Alan Browne and Troy Parrott gave them a deserved interval lead before Michael Obafemi, making his first international start, thundered in a third early in the second half.
Skipper Robertson conceded the performance was "nowhere near good enough" and said the Scotland fans were right to vent their frustration.
- Republic of Ireland 3-0 Scotland - Match report
- How the teams lined up | Match stats
- Nations League Group B1 table | Get Sky Sports
Robertson: Performance not good enough for a Scotland jersey
"To the fans behind the goal booing us off, completely correct," he told Premier Sports.
"We know they travel a long way, we know they pay a lot of money and that performance is nowhere near good enough in a Scotland jersey.
"We will need to assess as a team, we will need to assess individually and we have to hit the reset button because everything was good last year, but this year the performances haven't quite been up to scratch as of yet.
"We knew they were under pressure, two defeats in the first two and they were probably getting questioned.
"We had to weather the storm, but we didn't do it.
"We gave them easy corners, win big tackles which got the crowd up and that set the tone for the game and unfortunately we didn't get into the game until we were 3-0 down.
"The overall performance was nowhere good enough and not good enough for a Scotland jersey."
He added: "We have let the manager down, which is so disappointing for us. He set us up in a way and we never carried that out.
"Every one of us lost our individuals battles which can't happen in these games.
"Second balls went to them, they were winning the tackles and they had the chances. And when it goes like that, the result is only going one way."
'We need to get back to being consistent'
Robertson believes Scotland need to get back to the level of consistency shown in the eight unbeaten games before the Ukraine defeat.
He said: "It can't keep being one performance and trying to pick them up or trying to rally them.
"We need to get back to being consistent, which we were really good at last year.
"Today, I don't think anyone played above par which, when you come to places like this, is nowhere good enough.
"Some words were said in the dressing room and rightly so, but the manager, coaches and all the players, we are all together, but some things have to be said and we have to reset and go on a good run.
"It can't be one good performance then one bad performance, that's not what we have built under this manager and that's what we need to get back to, doing the basics correctly."
Clarke: We have to move on
For Scotland boss Steve Clarke, it proved a sobering evening on the other side of the Irish Sea 10 days after his side's heartbreaking World Cup play-off semi-final exit.
Clarke said: "Ireland deserved to win. They were on the front foot, we didn't cope with it and we played poorly and we lost."
But asked if he felt let down by his players, Clarke added: "Listen, this group of players has done fantastically for me and they've done fantastically for their country.
"We've had two big blows in the space of three games, the first time in a long time that's happened to us, and I'm interested to see how they come back as a group.
"I'm not going to criticise this group of players. They've been fantastic for me. Sometimes you have a bad day. Unfortunately, we've had two bad days in quick succession and we have to learn to deal with that and move on."
