Andy Robertson has suggested Scotland want to prove a point to pundits who were highly critical of their showing in the Euro 2024 opener against Germany, when he and his teammates face Switzerland on Wednesday night.
Robertson, the captain, admitted the Scots fell well short of their best in the 5-1 defeat against the tournament hosts in Munich. Yet the Liverpool player pointedly offered his view on the tone of elements of the post-match coverage. Roy Keane and the former Scotland international Graeme Souness were among those to offer scathing assessment.
Asked if the Swiss clash is a time for action rather than words, Robertson said: “I could sit and talk all night but it won’t make a difference. It’s easy to talk before or after a game but not so easy to go out and do it. That’s what we need to do, we need action.
“A lot of people were critical, a lot of people from the outside probably couldn’t wait to dip in, that’s what they’re paid to do and we respect that.
“All we know is we have to do a lot better on the pitch. We need to be confident, to play to our highest and if do we can cause any team problems. If we do that, if we get the result we want, then we can talk afterwards and it’ll be a much happier chat.
“There was a lot of hype surrounding us from our own country before the opening game, there was a lot of excitement. The support we got in Munich was among the best I’ve ever had in my career and now [we] owe them a result.”
Scotland Gunn; Hendry, Hanley, Tierney; Ralston, McGregor, Gilmour, Robertson; McTominay, McGinn; Adams
Substitutes: Kelly, Clark, Taylor, McCrorie, McKenna, Cooper, Armstrong, McLean, Christie, Jack, Forrest, Morgan, Shankland, Conway. Suspended: Porteous
Switzerland Sommer; Schär, Akanji, Rodriguez; Widmer, Xhaka, Freuler, Ndoye; Aebisher, Duah, Vagras
Substitutes: Mvogo, Kobel, Stergiou, Elvedi, Embolo, Okafor, Steffen, Zesiger, Sierro, Shaqiri, Jashari, Amdouni, Rieder
Referee Ivan Kružliak (Svk)
Cologne Stadium, Wed 8pm
Robertson believes an element of fear crept into Scotland’s display against the Germans. Steve Clarke, the Scotland manager, was in a noticeably curt mood on Tuesday evening. “We thought we were well prepared for Germany and obviously we weren’t,” Clarke said.
“So this time we don’t want to say too much and hopefully our actions on the pitch will show that we have prepared well. And a positive result would be lovely.”
Switzerland’s confidence is high after a 3-1 Group A success against Hungary on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Manchester City defender Manuel Akanji warned against taking lightly the challenge of Scotland after the events of Friday. “They will want to show everyone that they are a better team than that,” Akanji said.
“They had a great qualification campaign. We know they can play a lot better than they did in the first game so we have to be ready for that.”
