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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Ross Pilcher

What the Scotland pundits said after Steve Clarke's side were handed 3-0 Dublin doing by Ireland

Kenny Miller and Michael Stewart had harsh words for Scotland after they were left shell shocked by a rampant Ireland.

Stephen Kenny's side hadn't won in 12 Nations League games, but produced their best display of the former Dunfermline boss' reign to blow the Scots away at the Aviva stadium.

Steve Clarke made two changes from the side that beat Armenia in midweek, but every single player who started was unrecognisable as they wilted in the face of the fired up hosts.

Stewart was pitchside in Dublin, while Miller was part of the BBC Scotland team covering the game on the radio, and both were left deeply unimpressed by what they saw from the visitors.

And Stewart was left baffled as to why the Scotland boss didn't change the shape of his team until it was far too late.

Michael Stewart

"There might well have been a few of the Tartan Army who came into the game feeling happy and merry. They'll be sober now. It's a huge disappointment and I can't even begin to explain how disappointing that's been sitting here watching the game pan out.

"I said we needed to change our system at half-time. We needed to make a fundamental change but we made one substitution. We found ourselves 3-0 down then make three subs to change the system. That needed to happen at half-time, and there;s where the real disappointment hit.

"The first half wasn't good enough; we were dominated all over the park. Andy Robertson 's starting positions were so deep that we couldn't get any penetration in the game. We needed to make a real fundamental change and that didn't happen at half-time." We were 3-0 down and the game was gone."

Kenny Miller

"It's not just the result, it's the manner of the performance; the nature of how poor it's actually been. There's just not been the same kind of snap to their play.”

Willie Miller

“It was a really negative performance and that's two bad performances in three games. We're clinging on to a performance against Armenia to get us through and hopefully another good performance away from home this time against them to give us hope.”

Gary Breen

"We spoke about Browne playing right wing back against someone like Robertson, and McClean as well on the other side. We thought that they would be getting pinned back, but it was the complete opposite.

"Duffy spooked Scotland in terms of physicality but it's not a surprise. Hendry struggled against him and that's why they changed it over. For the first goal, he got up early, heads it back across and we score. From that moment on, the energy, everything seemed to be with Ireland. They were on the front foot."

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