limp Scots wilt in heat

Forget the forensics for a moment: if Scotland are not equipped to beat Macedonia in a building site of a stadium, there is no prospect of joining the ensemble cast in South Africa in two years' time.

Defeat can be attributed to many factors. The most pertinent is an alarming inability to penetrate a primitive gameplan from one of world football's underlings. It is premature to cast judgment on George Burley after one competitive mishap but the paucity of performance, especially in the first half, bodes ill for the nation's hopes of ending more than a decade of international drudgery.

The harbingers of doom already predict that anything less than a win against Iceland in Reykjavik on Wednesday night will consign Scotland to qualification misery. The manager and his entourage now have 48 hours to analyse and remedy the sequence of malfunctions that culminated in an abject loss.

First, the conflict of faith. As expected, Burley broke with tradition and sent out Scotland in an adventurous 4-4-2 shape. Sometimes the best intentions are not the most prudent. For all the talk of increased entertainment and enterprise, the heroics of Craig Gordon protected Scotland from a more embarrassing scoreline. In contrast, Petar Milosevski, Macedonia's hapless goalkeeper, bathed in the afternoon sunshine in ominous tranquility.

It would be speculative to suggest Scotland would have fared any better by beefing up the belly of the team. Burley strung the four most experienced men available across the middle of the park and watched, with a degree of bewilderment, as they blundered their way through a lamentable shift. The wisdom of selecting four central midfielders can be excused owing to lack of irresistible options but the injection of purpose provided by Kris Commons and Shaun Maloney means at least one of the established quartet will fear for his position in Reykjavik.

Scott Brown has lost his way and is unrecognisable from the thrusting dynamo who emerged midway through the previous campaign. He punctuated Scotland's play with a litter of lamentable - and dangerous - passes directly to opponents. He rallied, intermittently, during the second half but was neither imposing nor inspirational.

Darren Fletcher fared little better. He has enjoyed a prominent start to the season at Manchester United but as he fetched deeper and deeper for the merest touch, he found himself with acres of redundant space and nobody to pass to. With a bit more bravery and bullishness, Fletcher might have salvaged a point as he strained to reach a searching cross from Gary Naysmith.

Paul Hartley lasted 64 minutes, largely spent wishing he had the burst of drive that once would have taken him beyond Macedonia's manly midfield quartet. Barry Robson was the most effective engineer but as a result of the set-pieces that caused Milosevski mild panic underneath his crossbar, and the odd trundling effort from distance.

The breakdown in productivity left James McFadden and Kenny Miller so isolated they would have been as well waving at the television cameras as their toiling team-mates. In contrast, Goran Pandev was encouraged to indulge his majesty. The Lazio striker is a sumptuous talent; gliding gracefully across the field and exhibiting effortless control and instinctive vision. Pandev's effectiveness was dulled, unceremoniously, by Gary Caldwell. A knee to the lower back was one of Caldwell's less wholesome highlights but it was one of a collection of essential interventions.

He spared Scotland from conceding a certain second with a dramatic sliding challenge on Maznov before the interval but it was his failure to get back from a corner kick that created the panic in the first place. The significance of the heat cannot be dismissed but, equally, it cannot excuse the extent of the lethargy. Poor Graham Alexander's 36-year-old legs looked as though they were made of lead by the end of a necessarily economic shift. On the other side, Naysmith occasionally indulged his sense of adventure but often with tired results.

Then there was Pavel Kralovec. The Czech referee was, according to Burley's pre-match chatter, a cause for concern. He did his best to accommodate Scotland's brawnier aspects but was badly deceived for Macedonia's opening goal, when Maznov simply fell limp over one of Stephen McManus's oars, but was hardly a root cause of Scotland's misfortune.

Instead, the display proved what has long been suspected.

Without the luxury of a full quota of players, Scotland are no better than average. The loss of Alan Hutton's athleticism was immeasurable. Likewise, Barry Ferguson's strut was missed in midfield. Without his presence there is a distinct lack of aggressive leadership in the ranks.

Scotland were severely punished for their first bout of frailty. Criminally, Brown gave the ball away without pressure and McManus was penalised for a tackle on Maznov. The forward may have flung himself to the floor but McManus was guilty of stabbing out his left foot and inviting such thespianism.

From the free-kick, Goce Sedloski, the Macedonia captain, smacked a shot that Gordon palmed on to a post and, as the defence dithered, Ilcho Naumoski nudged home the rebound.

The referee got wise to Maznov's ham-acting as he pled for a penalty when, in fact, Gordon stole the ball from the player's toe. Katanec's cynicism denied Scotland a more legitimate claim when both Miller and McFadden were simultaneously upended in the penalty box by Sedloski and Milosevski. Commons and Maloney brought much-needed width when they were summoned from the bench. It offered a ray of hope amid the beating sunshine but Scotland, even this early in the campaign, might be 90 minutes away from a total eclipse.

Defeat can be attributed to many factors. The most pertinent is an alarming inability to penetrate a primitive gameplan from one of world football's underlings. It is premature to cast judgment on George Burley after one competitive mishap but the paucity of performance, especially in the first half, bodes ill for the nation's hopes of ending more than a decade of international drudgery.

The harbingers of doom already predict that anything less than a win against Iceland in Reykjavik on Wednesday night will consign Scotland to qualification misery. The manager and his entourage now have 48 hours to analyse and remedy the sequence of malfunctions that culminated in an abject loss.

First, the conflict of faith. As expected, Burley broke with tradition and sent out Scotland in an adventurous 4-4-2 shape. Sometimes the best intentions are not the most prudent. For all the talk of increased entertainment and enterprise, the heroics of Craig Gordon protected Scotland from a more embarrassing scoreline. In contrast, Petar Milosevski, Macedonia's hapless goalkeeper, bathed in the afternoon sunshine in ominous tranquility.

It would be speculative to suggest Scotland would have fared any better by beefing up the belly of the team. Burley strung the four most experienced men available across the middle of the park and watched, with a degree of bewilderment, as they blundered their way through a lamentable shift. The wisdom of selecting four central midfielders can be excused owing to lack of irresistible options but the injection of purpose provided by Kris Commons and Shaun Maloney means at least one of the established quartet will fear for his position in Reykjavik.

Scott Brown has lost his way and is unrecognisable from the thrusting dynamo who emerged midway through the previous campaign. He punctuated Scotland's play with a litter of lamentable - and dangerous - passes directly to opponents. He rallied, intermittently, during the second half but was neither imposing nor inspirational.

Darren Fletcher fared little better. He has enjoyed a prominent start to the season at Manchester United but as he fetched deeper and deeper for the merest touch, he found himself with acres of redundant space and nobody to pass to. With a bit more bravery and bullishness, Fletcher might have salvaged a point as he strained to reach a searching cross from Gary Naysmith.

Paul Hartley lasted 64 minutes, largely spent wishing he had the burst of drive that once would have taken him beyond Macedonia's manly midfield quartet. Barry Robson was the most effective engineer but as a result of the set-pieces that caused Milosevski mild panic underneath his crossbar, and the odd trundling effort from distance.

The breakdown in productivity left James McFadden and Kenny Miller so isolated they would have been as well waving at the television cameras as their toiling team-mates. In contrast, Goran Pandev was encouraged to indulge his majesty. The Lazio striker is a sumptuous talent; gliding gracefully across the field and exhibiting effortless control and instinctive vision. Pandev's effectiveness was dulled, unceremoniously, by Gary Caldwell. A knee to the lower back was one of Caldwell's less wholesome highlights but it was one of a collection of essential interventions.

He spared Scotland from conceding a certain second with a dramatic sliding challenge on Maznov before the interval but it was his failure to get back from a corner kick that created the panic in the first place. The significance of the heat cannot be dismissed but, equally, it cannot excuse the extent of the lethargy. Poor Graham Alexander's 36-year-old legs looked as though they were made of lead by the end of a necessarily economic shift. On the other side, Naysmith occasionally indulged his sense of adventure but often with tired results.

Then there was Pavel Kralovec. The Czech referee was, according to Burley's pre-match chatter, a cause for concern. He did his best to accommodate Scotland's brawnier aspects but was badly deceived for Macedonia's opening goal, when Maznov simply fell limp over one of Stephen McManus's oars, but was hardly a root cause of Scotland's misfortune.

Instead, the display proved what has long been suspected.

Without the luxury of a full quota of players, Scotland are no better than average. The loss of Alan Hutton's athleticism was immeasurable. Likewise, Barry Ferguson's strut was missed in midfield. Without his presence there is a distinct lack of aggressive leadership in the ranks.

Scotland were severely punished for their first bout of frailty. Criminally, Brown gave the ball away without pressure and McManus was penalised for a tackle on Maznov. The forward may have flung himself to the floor but McManus was guilty of stabbing out his left foot and inviting such thespianism.

From the free-kick, Goce Sedloski, the Macedonia captain, smacked a shot that Gordon palmed on to a post and, as the defence dithered, Ilcho Naumoski nudged home the rebound.

The referee got wise to Maznov's ham-acting as he pled for a penalty when, in fact, Gordon stole the ball from the player's toe. Katanec's cynicism denied Scotland a more legitimate claim when both Miller and McFadden were simultaneously upended in the penalty box by Sedloski and Milosevski. Commons and Maloney brought much-needed width when they were summoned from the bench. It offered a ray of hope amid the beating sunshine but Scotland, even this early in the campaign, might be 90 minutes away from a total eclipse.

Taken from the Herald