A full 50 thousand inside Hampden watched on as goals from John Souttar and Che Adams crushed Denmark's hopes of a 100% record in the World Cup Qualifiers.
Both teams lined up in a five at the back with Denmark having three out and out forwards in a 343 and Scotland operating with two attacking midfielders in a 3421. This formation worked wonders for Scotland with the two holding midfielders in Gilmour and McGregor flooding their own box when on the back foot and three attacking players in Adams, McGinn and Christie to press in numbers.
This pressing was very effective with the Denmark defenders constantly being hassled to get the ball clear and not being allowed any fluidity in possession.
Every blue dot in the picture above is a loss of possession from Denmark in their own half showing just how well Scotland pressed them at times. Another factor that led to Scotland's win was of course set pieces. Every single corner from either McGinn or Gilmour was put right on top of the keeper with the ball often having to be scrambled out the Denmark box. This has been a common theme for Scotland when taking corners particularly obviously against Israel with Scott McTominay's last gasp winner.
Towards the last 15 minutes of the game tactics completely went out the window with it turning into attack vs defence, that was until Stuart Armstrong found space to slide in Che Adams to seal the victory with a fantastic finish. This goal for Che Adams was thoroughly deserved. His link-up play and constant running and pressing won't have gone unnoticed to Steve Clarke. The Southampton man showed there is so much more to his game than scoring goals with 19 completed passes whilst leading the line for the Scots.
A second individual performance that stood out to me was the captain, Andy Robertson. Clarke's skipper is often criticised for not putting in the same level of performance internationally as he does at club level but the Liverpool man was near flawless playing LWB last night. Robertson really exploited the flank that the Denmark RWB constantly left unattended to last night, terrorising the opposition down the right-hand side when Kristensen pushed up and left him acres of space to run into. Scotland soon realised they were getting enjoyment down that side and aimed to find Robertson whenever possible. This is shown by the fact that 43% of the attacking play came down the left side for Scotland and understandably so with the captain pulling off another sublime performance.
The third and final individual performance to touch on from last night has to be Ryan Christie. On paper, he was an AM but the Bournemouth man worked right up and down the park as shown from his average position.
This average position is so central due to Christie's superhuman-like running throughout the game- never leaving Scotland short up top whilst somehow managing to find himself in his own box to block a shot or clear the ball. The midfielder also often dropped back to cover for Robertson when he pushed up. This impressive display through grit and determination shouldn't take away from what the ex-Celtic man did with the ball. Christie managed to create one big chance, one key pass and two successful dribbles.
To conclude, Scotland seem to have found a winning formula with the five at the back which has been used in Steve Clarke's tactics for over a year but never as good as tonight. This level of performance against a team that hadn't lost since they took England to extra time in a Euro 2020 semi-final shows that Scotland can compete against most in these play-offs especially with the added factor of a home draw and being seeded.
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