FOR Denmark this was a walk in the Parken.
An effortless summer evening’s stroll in wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.
For Scotland it was a plodding slog in Denmark’s capital.
Blunderful, blunderful for Steve Clarke in this World Cup qualification defeat.
Two goals conceded in the space of a first-half minute.
There was no way back for Clarke’s side after that.
But it almost felt like this result was on the cards before a ball was even kicked.
Injury call offs and Covid chaos did the Scotland boss no favours with his squad decimated before even arriving here.
Yet the Tartan Army watching at home will maybe still feel their manager didn’t make things easier for himself either.
When it came to his team selection Clarke’s options were clearly extremely limited.
Having lost no less than seven players from his original squad it was no easy line-up to pick. Or predict.
The loss of Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Stephen O’Donnell and Nathan Patterson hardly made the manager’s job any easier.
Denmark were also without eight of their top men, let’s not forget.
But while they still had 12 substitutes sitting on their bench, Scotland only had eight.
Yet Clarke’s critics will say he was still guilty of over-thinking things.
Andy Robertson at wing-back is a role the Liverpool star has come accustomed to in a Scotland shirt. But on the left.
Here he was handed the armband as skipper on his 49th cap and asked to start over on the right.
Clarke was maybe hoping his experienced captain would be able to cope with the threat of Maehle given the dynamic Dane’s talent at getting forward and cutting inside off that flank.
But for Robertson the task was easier said than done. Like so often in a dark blue jersey, he covered himself in little glory.
In fairness, through, he wasn’t the only one.
Denmark are a top class side, so let’s get that right.
In the likes of Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen and Sampdoria’s Mikkel Damsgaard they have proper European class players.
They made Clarke’s players look ordinary in comparison in a dire first-half.
Conceding once early on was bad enough for Scotland. Losing a second goal within 60 seconds was just abysmal.
But that was the upshot as the ball flew past Craig Gordon twice in quick succession the 14th and 15th minutes.
The Danes’ first was scored by Daniel Wass who timed his run into the box perfectly to get on the end of a diagonal ball from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Kieran Tierney completely lost the Valencia star and was caught on the blindside. Wass just had to nod the ball on target to score and he was never going to miss.
The Parken Stadium erupted but their supporters hadn’t even returned to their sears before they were celebrating again.
This time the sensational Damsgaard flicked a cute ball into the box which was controlled by Maehl on the run before he slid the ball through Gordon’s legs.
It was devastating from Denmark.
There was so much energy in their play with Kasper Hjulmand’s side pumped up and raring to go all over the pitch.
Scotland just couldn’t get going.
Billy Gilmour is one of the biggest talents in English football for his ability to dictate play with the ball at his feet.
But he was continuously bypassed with far too many hopeful balls played up top to striker Che Adams.
Denmark No1 Kasper Schmeichel literally didn’t have a single save to make in the first-half and barely touched the ball.
Clarke had to change things at half-time and in fairness he did.
Centre-back Scott McKenna was taken off and replaced with striker Lyndon Dykes in an alteration which allowed Robertson to shift back into his more natural position on the left.
Ryan Fraser moved to the right with Tierney dropping back into the heart of defence.
There was suddenly a better shape to the team.
But nothing was going to improve for Scotland while they continued to pass the ball so poorly.
There had to be better quality in possession if Denmark were going to be put under any pressure whatsoever.
But there were definite signs of improvement.
Gilmour starts to get on the ball and showed glimpses of his class in moments when he dropped the shoulder to get out of tight situations and then burst forward.
If anyone in the team can hold their head high this morning then it’s the wee man.
He had a shot from the edge of the box which flashed past Schmeichel’s right-hand post.
Shortly after that Robertson burst forward and got as far as the Danish box before thinking twice about shooting on his weaker right foot and the chance was gone.
With a comfortable two-goal lead Denmark were playing in second gear, though.
They got themselves into a situation where they didn’t need to exert themselves too much.
Thomas Delaney had a shot which Gordon did well to save but the home side were more satisfied with keeping the ball than inflicting any more damage.
That said, Scotland could have made things interesting with ten minutes to go had Fraser been able to beat Schmeichel when a chance came his way inside the box.
It was a real opportunity to pull a goal back.
But Fraser’s side-footed shot low to the Leicester star’s right brought an outstanding stop from him as he clawed the ball around the post and out for a corner.
It was just too little too late from Scotland who must now raise their game considerably against Moldova at Hampden on Saturday.
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
