Celtic duo Callum McGregor and Anthony Ralston started the game as Scotland suffered Euro 2024 heartache on Sunday.
Steve Clarke’s side went into their showdown match against Hungary knowing that a win would seriously aid their chances of progressing through to the knockout stages.
Scotland have never featured beyond the group stages of any major tournament and the current crop of players were hyped up to make history, with ex-Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou showing his support.
But they produced a lacklustre display, struggled to threaten Hungary’s backline and committed a lot of men forward in stoppage time before conceding a crushing 100th-minute goal.
During Scotland’s brief stay in Germany, the team and the manager have had to deal with question marks over their performances and decision-making, especially Celtic skipper McGregor in the middle of the park.
That reared its ugly head again against Hungary and Shane Duffy couldn’t help but ask one important question on Twitter.
Celtic duo McGregor and Ralston have started all three group games, but their club teammate James Forrest wasn’t used at all by Clarke.
Forrest’s exclusion in the previous match was highlighted and now Duffy can’t believe he was never brought on, especially given that Scotland needed the win.
Only four efforts at the opposition’s goal in a game that was probably their biggest in recent history.
James Forrest doesn’t feature as Scotland knocked out of Euro 2024
“James Forrest??” questioned Duffy. “How is he not on this pitch.”
Pressure on Steve Clarke after Scotland lose to Hungary
The issue facing Clarke is that the team didn’t turn up for the Germany game, showed some fight in the second match and only really threatened towards the end against Hungary.
Three games. One point. Two goals were scored, with one being an own goal and the other being a deflected effort.
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Surely this puts pressure on the Scotland manager. Yes, his nation is now qualifying for major tournaments now.
But they simply aren’t competing and given the calibre of certain quarters of their squad, they should be doing much, much better.
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