Scotland: "5-1 defeat should not be death of team" says Pat Nevin By ALAN PATTULLO Published on Tuesday 29 May 2012 00:00 When Scotland concede five goals, an anguished bout of self-examination tends to follow. It happened in Lisbon in 1993, when the Scots fell 5-0 to Portugal. An inquest was opened after the 5-0 defeat to France in Paris in 2002, although the hysteria was not quite so marked due to the recognition that asking a new manager, Berti Vogts, to begin his reign against one of the best teams in the world was always asking for trouble. The 6-0 demolition by the Netherlands some 18 months later in a European Championships qualifying play-off, however, probably spelled the beginning of the end of Berti's reign. According to Pat Nevin, Sunday morning's 5-1 thrashing in Jacksonville against the United States deserves to be filed in the same category as the result in Paris. It can, he says, be easily explained away, even if, for many others, there is reason for alarm. Manager Craig Levein insisted that he was comfortable with the standard of player available to him in Florida, despite being deprived the services of Darren Fletcher, Charlie Adam and James Morrison. Nevin approved of Levein's decision to experiment with his line-up, even if it is likely to have helped set in concrete his preference to be hard to beat. The ripples from the three-goal mauling Sweden administered in Levein's second game in charge were still being felt when Scotland went to Prague later that year and lined up in the now-notorious 4-6-0 formation. Nevin believes Levein was taking some tentative steps towards being adventurous at the weekend, only to be scalded once again. The former Scotland winger points to the deployment of Shaun Maloney, Matt Phillips and Scott Brown in a midfield three behind the centre forward Kenny Miller, with James McArthur and Barry Bannan "sitting" behind them. It was an undeniably creative-looking line-up. But it is difficult to create when not in possession of the ball. Nevin, who co-commentated on the game for ESPN, described the Scots as having been "bullied" in the midfield area. "The team set-up was obviously Craig trying something different, they were more offensive in outlook than normal when playing an away game," he says. I mentioned during the commentary that I was involved in a team beaten 5-0 by Portugal, when I came on as substitute [for Levein]. That was the death of a team, I don't think this should be the death of this team. Craig was experimenting, re-building. Nevin does not view it as a significant setback ahead of the World Cup qualifying section, which kicks off in September. For some, however, the onus is now on Levein's side to get a morale-boosting result against Australia at Easter Road in August, prior to the opening two games in Group A against Serbia and Macedonia. "No one will remember a friendly if you start well in the qualifying," contends Nevin. There are some decent signs. I like Craig, but I would criticise him if I had to - like when he did not play anyone up front in Prague. I think that was a terrible decision. I wouldn't be as hard on him for this one. When Nevin played for Scotland in the States they were on their way to Euro 92, then a slimmed-down eight-team tournament. Now fans harbour fears of being unable to claim one of the 31 places on offer for the World Cup in two years" time, when a country like the United States, ostensibly just 19 places higher in the Fifa rankings, can cut through the side at will. How times change. Fifty years ago the Scots could ease to a multi-goal victory themselves against the visiting United States team, one whose biggest contribution to the so-called contest was having a goalkeeper able to throw the ball over the half-way line. "He alternated this with picking it out of the net," wrote Bob Crampsey in The Scotsman, when reflecting on the 6-0 win. Even 20 years ago the Scots could go to the States and triumph in their opponents" own backyard, in this case the Mile High stadium in Denver. Nevin, indeed, scored the winner that day. "You can't really compare the two sides," Nevin says, when asked to comment on the improvement of the United States team since then. The only comparison I can make is that they had the same team ethic and team spirit. Americans love playing for their country, they adore it. Even if it's just a friendly they are up for it, playing in a high tempo way, as we saw on Sunday morning. It can be pretty hard to live with. You look at the squad. I think [Jurgen] Klinsmann has picked as many as 42 players since taking over. They will get to the next World Cup, no question. They have strength in depth. Against Scotland there were four Bundesliga players, a Chievo player, obviously those from the Premier League - Clint Dempsey, their best player, was not even playing. I was thinking during the game that this is a very good national team. No one will hammer them. They play Brazil next, and do not expect Brazil to give them a doing. Nevin disputed former US centre-half, and current ESPN analyst, Alexi Lalas" contention that Scotland should be "ashamed" of the way they lost. "It wasn't as if the players were not working," says Nevin. Everyone was trying, they were just not a unit. We were not a unit because the system was too open and did not suit them. You can say, "yes, well, then the manager got it wrong." I would agree - he did get it wrong. But he was trying something. You can tell he was trying something because when it wasn't going right at the start he did not then go and change things and go all negative. Kenny Miller stayed on for 90 minutes, and Maloney, who was not getting a kick, stayed on for 80 minutes. It was quite obvious [Craig] Mackail-Smith could have done a better job because of his power and pace, but he [Levein] gave people an opportunity. There is nothing worse than if you are in the team and the manager is experimenting and then after 20 minutes he decides, "well that doesn't work," and changes it. "It was an experiment which didn't go well," Nevin concludes. But I would not be writing anyone off because of it.