Scotland players look dejected
Scotland were fortunate to lose by just three goals in Dublin on Saturday

Scotland lost to Ireland in the World Cup play-offs in the space of 10 days and went from being confident in their play-off chances to questioning their own abilities.

The captain confessed that they let their manager down in the 2-0 loss to the Republic of Ireland after the play-off against Ukraine. They were indicted of their performances.

Why have a team that was eight wins in a row fallen apart?

  • 'A bad, bad night for Scotland' - Podcast
  • Reaction & as it happened

The Tierney problem

The turning point in Steve's time in charge was when he worked out the 3-4-2 formation after the Russia loss.

He was able to get both Robertson and Tierney in the same team because he switched to it.

He drives from deep and commits defenders, passes through the lines and combines with his counterpart to get crosses in to the box.

In this international window, his absence through injury has been glaring, with Robertson starting deeper and unable to overlap Tierney in the same way as he does forLiverpool.

This has an impact on Scotland's productivity. The nation has only lost four of the 20 games that Tierney has played, and they have lost seven of the 15 games he has missed.

Andy Robertson's heat map against the Republic of Ireland shows how little influence he had in the final third
Andy Robertson's heat map against the Republic of Ireland shows how little influence he had in the final third
Andy Robertson's heat map in the 2-0 win against Denmark in November - when Kieran Tierney was playing - shows he got into the box more regularly
Andy Robertson's heat map in the 2-0 win against Denmark in November - when Kieran Tierney was playing - shows he got into the box more regularly

Key players tired and out of form

After a long season, some of Scotland's marquee players looked leggy in Dublin, and many of them haven't come off the back of great club seasons.

Robertson's 58th game of the season was the Ireland defeat and he failed to get up and down in his usual way.

One of the players who has started all three matches for Scotland is also a club player.

Scott McTominay has been part of a struggling Manchester United team and toiled at centre-back against Ukraine while giving away possession 14 times in the middle of the park against Ireland, while Grant Hanley and Billy Gilmour were also part of a poor Canaries team which was demoted from

Che Adams hasn't scored in over a month, while John McGinn has been far from his best recently. It's not a good recipe for a small nation when the spine of your team isn't in top shape.

Even though he is well known for his loyalty to players who have served him well, he is never likely to let them go.

The Scotland boss wouldn't criticize the group of players. You may have bad days.

We had a couple of bad days in a row. We need to deal with that and move on.

Steve Clarke speaks in his post-match press conference in Dublin

Time for Plan B?

What will he learn from the losses? Scotland might need a Plan B because of the lack of form of key players.

The 3-4-1-2 was brought in to work on the defence and accommodate the two players. Scotland has lost to the Republic of Ireland and the Ukraine in a row.

None of the forwards have scored for the national team in the last four years.

When Scotland were 2-0 down against Ukranian in the 50th minute, some pundits were critical of the change in shape of the back four, which they made.

The manager reverted back to the original formation for the win against Armenia and the second win in Dublin.

Scotland scored only 0.79 expected goals in the Aviva Stadium and 1.29 against the Ukranian in their last two games.

Is he going to make major changes for the trip to Armenia?

Willie Miller said on the Sportsound programme that "you really can't contemplate a defeat in Armenia and still be positive about our hopes of doing anything in the Nations League"

There were aspects of the game that should have been fixed earlier.

The technical aspects of the game did not make a difference. There was a group of people in Dublin who were very sleepy.