Dire, dismal and desperate

Kirchler puts Austria ahead after 28 minutes.

Paul Gallacher's blunder let in Hass to score the second goal for Austria.

A tiny crowd are lost in the 52,000-capacity Hampden Park as the game attracts little interest

WHATEVER other talents Berti Vogts' Scotland squad may possess, they are very effectively hidden under a consistent capacity for ignominy and a gift for inducing nausea in their supporters.

This latest demonstration of witlessness makes the present team an insult to their heritage, succumbing with breathtaking mediocrity to an Austrian team whose manager, Hans Krankl, is said to have similar problems to the Scots. Were that so, it is reasonable to suppose, Krankl would by now have gone in search of a tall building.

The goals scored by Roland Kirchler and Mario Haas - there could have been more - merely confirmed the Austrians' superiority. Scotland's dreadful ineptness offered hints that the ultimate failure, lower than second place in Group 5 of the Euro 04 qualifying, is now a distinct possibility.

One of the most damaging flaws in Vogts's team is that they appear to be such slow learners, a serious disadvantage in any group engaged in the immediate business of qualifying for the European championship next summer.

This defect was revealed when Kirchler scored the opening goal and embarrassingly underlined when Haas doubled the lead soon after. Of course, it may be possible to introduce extenuating circumstances in defence of the Scotland players. These would include the alarming visual evidence of a tactical deployment by the manager that did not square with his pre-match intentions.

The little German had stressed that Christian Dailly would be used in a role in front of the back three, with specific instructions to cover for the winger, Paul Devlin, so that the latter would be free to concentrate on running at the Austrian defence.
 

Vogts could not have been more astute in his observation that Hans Krankl favours a raider wide on the left - indeed, the manager's prediction was almost spooky - but he appeared either to have forgotten to give Dailly his orders or changed his mind. If the latter, it was a dreadful misjudgment.

Michael Wagner not only consistently scooted untracked and unchecked into menacing areas on the left - he set up the opening goal - but did so on so many occasions before his mobility and dangerous crossing finally caused damage that anyone would have thought professional footballers, without a manager's whisper in their ear, would have been able to figure for themselves that here was a man worth policing.

The earlier leasson seemed not to "take" when Wagner ran without a challenge towards a long cross from the right. With enough time not only to light a Havana cigar, but to finish it, the Austria Memphis player delivered a perfect centre to Kirchler, who raised his boot chest-high to stun the volley past Paul Gallacher. The home players appeared also not to have taken any heed of the Dundee United's aberration last week-end, when he assisted Hibs in their late winning goal at Tannadice. Or perhaps, with some justification, they assumed that such eccentricities were unlikely to be seen again so soon.

Another piece of injudiciousness on their part, or at least that of Lee Wilkie, the towering Dundee defender who rolled the ball back to his goalkeeper with no white shirt within 30 yards. Haas, however, seemed to sense an opportunity and bolted forward into the penalty area. There, he arrived just in time to block the attempted clearance by the casual Gallacher, who had taken an eternity to set himself. The ball broke forward, and Haas had only to take a nonchalant walk towards it, four yards from goal, and drive it right-footed into the unguarded net.

All of this time, there was nothing to be seen of Dailly in the beat Vogts had said he would be assigned. Worse, the West Ham defender's insistence on remaining on the left side of the Scots' defence did nothing to hinder the service from that side, either. The only sign of Dailly, indeed, came at a corner kick from James McFadden on the right, his downward jheader comfortably taken by Thomas Mandl. Unsurprsingly, Dailly remained in the dressing-room at the start of the second half, replaced by Scot Gemmill, while Stevie Crawford took over from the toiling Steven Thompson. Thompson had been the beneficiary of a rare break for the Scots during the first half, allowed the opportunity to carry the ball clear of the visiting defence and into the penalty box. His dilatoriness, however, gave Thomas Flogel the chance to track back and simply take the ball from him.

That moment was the difference between the teams in microcosm, Vogts's players largely pedestrian and unimaginative, the Austrians, by comparison, lively and self-assured. This does not mean they played to an especially high standard, but, in relation to the Scots, all that was required was anything above ground level. If there was some improvement in the amount of territory gained by the home side after the interval, it was, most of the time, done in a banal, ultimately unproductive, way. A cross from Gemmill on the right, for example, was knocked down by Don Hutchison to the lurking Gary Naysmith, but the Everton man's left-foot volley from 20 yards was wild and wide.

Vogts's response to the awfulness was to replace Craig Burley - curiously, the veteran Derby County midfelder had looked in the early stages more of an international player than many of his teammates - with the energetic Colin Cameron. But it was another sub, Kenny Miller, who broke free on the left and squared to the in-rushing Crawford, who, with another example of shoddy play, drove the ball against Mandl from only six yards' range. This was an event the SFA had promoted as perfect family entertainment. They must have had in mind The Addams Family.

Scotland: Gallacher, Wilkie, Webster, Dailly (Gemmill 46), Pressley, Burley (Cameron 63), Devlin (Smith 84), Hutchison (Miller 61), Thompson (Crawford 46), McFadden, Naysmith.

Austria: Mandl; Scharner, Ehrmann, Stranzl, Dospel; Aufhauser, Schopp, Flogel, Wagner; Haas, Kirchler. Subs: Payer, Hieblinger, Pogatelz, Holler, Brunmayr, Wallner, Herzog.

Referee: Nicolai Vollquartz (Denmark)

Christian Dailly played 45 minutes against Austria

Austria's performance pleased Floege

Thomas Floegel captained Austria

Haas pounced on a mistake Gallacher

Scotland were booed off the field

Vogts under fire after defeat

There was veiled criticism from his own players as Berti Vogts insisted his tactics were not to blame for Scotland's 2-0 home defeat by Austria. West Ham United defender Christian Dailly suggested that moving from three at the back to a 4-4-2 had helped the Scots improve in the second half. And Derby County midfielder Craig Burley admitted that the players had been confused by the shape adopted during the opening 45 minutes.

Burley, making his first appearance under Vogts following his injury problems, said: "I have been away 18 months, but not a great deal has changed. I have seen those performances before. "It was a dreadful game to play in and I am sure it was a dreadful game to watch. The performance was really dire. We certainly had problems getting close to them in the first half and Gary Naysmith and I were getting outnumbered in the middle, while the back lads didn't know whether to squeeze in or not. The management were not happy at half time, changed it about a bit and we did a bit better. I felt Austria are not a great side, but we have made them look better than they are."

Diplomatic Dailly, playing in an unfamiliar wing-back role, suggested that it was the players and not the system that was at fault in the first half but conceded: "When we switched to a straight 4-4-2, it seemed to suit us better." But Scotland manager Vogts insisted that he had not changed the formation - and that the improvement was all down to closing down opponents better and injecting more pace into their play. "It had nothing to do with the tactics," he said. "We had the same tactics in the second half."

One thing everyone in the Scotland camp can agree on is that they will have to show a massive improvement if they are to claim victory in their vital Euro 2004 qualifier against Germany at Hampden on 7 June. And Vogts, whose side were jeered from the park by one of Hampden's smallest-ever crowds, was left praying for the return of injured first-choice regulars. "We have a lot of young players and Barry Ferguson and Paul Lambert weren't playing, nor was Robert Douglas," he said. "I hope Barry can play against Germany - I have my fingers crossed for him. We need more fight and passion in the game. A lot of the players looked very tired, but they have to play on 7 June against Germany." However, Vogts hoped that being the underdogs might help his players. "Maybe it will be easier against the Germans as they will be big favourites," he said.

Former Hearts midfielder Thomas Floegel, captaining Austria for the first time, thought his side's victory would boost confidence for their Euro 2004 campaign following two bad defeats. But he added: "I think Scotland are trying to build up a new team with young boys and maybe against Germany things can be different."

JAMES TRAYNOR'S VERDICT

DID you vote for Vogts yesterday? Nah, me neither. Let's be honest, a vote for Vogts would have been a vote wasted. Believe me, I would like to have given the little German a powerful vote of confidence, but after Wednesday night it was impossible. The clock is ticking and Vogts might only have 90 more minutes of competitive action against his own country on June 7, to save his skin. His Scotland side must negotiate that European Championship qualifying match with some style and swagger if he is to win back a support which is deserting faster than Saddam's Republican Guard did a runner.

But those who did show up at the National Stadium the other night, especially the kids, are due an apology and since not a single SFA blazer was bold enough to come out from under the stairs after the latest Hampden howler allow me to say some of us are so very, very sorry you had to endure what was a pathetic, embarrassing attempt to play the game. There, that's it done, but in the real world and not Planet Football, a place where greed abounds and ordinary Joes masquerade as Zidane, our Scotland manager, Berti Vogts, and his players should have been offering their own apologies yesterday.

Wednesday night was shameful. In fact, even though the match was only a friendly against Austria it was still one of the most painful Scotland experiences of all time and, believe me, our national team have been involved in more than a few desperate occasions. That 2-0 defeat by an Austrian team also in the process of being rebuilt was dire and the abject poverty of our play in the first half will live long in the memory.

God Almighty, we looked like a team selected from a home for the permanently bewildered. The people who run our game must be blind, but they need to get a grip before they lose not only tomorrow's supporters but the diehards, the remnants of the Tartan Army. We all know they'll go anywhere for a party, but Scotland's performances are in danger of making them puke even before they've had their first pints. So if any of those eejits in the Laughing Academy, aka the SFA, are awake, please do something. Press the buzzer and get nurse to give you something to perk you up, stimulate the old brain juices because you have to get us out of this mess.

If you can't then do the decent thing and step aside so that others might try. Are these men, whose only abilities might be pulling their tea biscuits out of the cups just at the right time, really going to sit there in their committee rooms blethering while the game implodes? Just how much longer will they put themselves before the national team and supporters? The game and the passion for it is fading yet the same old, blank faces look out at us from the limos and plush coaches which whisk them away from the world's airports to the best hotels while on Scotland, UEFA or FIFA duty. It isn't right, and it has to stop.

The rest of us can only wonder what goes on inside their heads, but it would be interesting to discover who they blame for the depressing state of Scottish football. The very notion that they might have played a part in Scotland: A Footballing Nation and Its Downfall would never enter their tiny minds. So what's to be done about a bunch of clapped-out and clueless leaders who seem oblivious to the continuing decline, and what do we do about Vogts?

Yes, most of us said he should be allowed time to turn the national team's fortunes around, but we also expected to see signs of improvement almost 15 months into his reign. Even another look at the tape of the match against Austria leaves me still trying to see those signs. We weren't even close to mediocrity and the little German must understand his work here so far is not good enough and that he is almost out of time.

Allies are deserting by the match and if Germany give us a lesson at Hampden he would very quickly discover the meaning of loneliness. Vogts arrived as our saviour, the man to point the way, a legend of world football capable of making right all the wrongs caused by years of mistaking second-rate play as something good, but it isn't happening and although he could blame the lack of talent, that doesn't fully explain performances like the most recent one.

According to one of his players Vogts seemed unsure of which way he wanted the team to play only half an hour or so before kick-off and this uncertainty was carried on to the pitch. Too many Scots were in the wrong places at the wrong times and even one of the veterans, Craig Burley, said afterwards that there could have been a lack of communication. I like Vogts and the fact that he felt he could come here to a backward nation and try to show the way, but he has to accept responsibility for the parlous state we are in at this moment. He hasn't given us enough hope and only a performance with zest and belief against Germany can restore faith.

However, I think we can give up on the SFA's head bloke doing anything to help us because he is too busy sitting on UEFA committees as though some kind of guru. That's a laugh and just why anyone at European HQ should think a man who appears powerless to stop our nosedive towards oblivion could help them is beyond me. Maybe David Taylor was taking part in a new reality TV show: I'm a Nobody, Get Me Some Publicity, I don't know. But I know this, Taylor should have been in Glasgow yesterday conducting an inquest into that unacceptable rubbish which insulted all of us the other night.

I fear, though, our chief executive doesn't have what it takes to lead us from the wilderness. He could become known as the man who presided over a record number of failures, if he hasn't done that already, and someone, maybe even our newly- elected politicians, must call him to account. That should be a priority for Jack McConnell who claims to be a football fan and it would help if the Scottish Executive started to lean on the SFA and make it clear they can't continue on the current path, but someone has to do something. May I suggest an enema for the SFA, and I make no apologies for that.