CHARLIE Mulgrew last night insisted Scotland are capable of putting their miserable result against Georgia behind them when they take on World Cup holders Germany at Hampden on Monday.
Mulgrew admitted there could be no excuses for the national team’s woeful performance in the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena against the team languishing in second bottom place in Group D.
Gordon Strachan’s side failed to trouble the opposition goal during a hugely frustrating outing which they were expected to win comfortably after making such an encouraging start to their campaign.
However, the Celtic player, who moved from centre half to left back during the second half, knows the Scotland players must concentrate fully on their next fixture with Joachim Loew’s side.
He is adamant his country, whose hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 have suffered a major setback due to the 1-0 defeat, can redeem themselves by getting a result against the world champions.
“Overall it just wasn’t good enough,” he said. “We’re not even talking about decisions which went against us. We’re concentrating on things we can affect and one thing you can’t affect are decisions.
“The fact is that we all know in that dressing room that we can do better. It’s as simple as that. We’re not looking for any excuses. We have to stand up and admit we had a bad night and get on with putting things right.
“The one thing is that there’s still a lot to play for and a chance to get back out for another big games right away. We’re all so disappointed, because we wanted to come here, put on a good show and win the game. But we haven’t done it, so we just need to turn it round and move on.
“We have get over this quickly and be ready for Germany – we have no choice, there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves. I’m absolutely sure we’re get down to work between now and Monday and we’ll be ready.
“We’re looking at small things here. We didn’t perform as well as we can, didn’t create as many chances as we can and once we lost that goal it was difficult.
“We’ll be gutted for a bit. A few guys won’t have got much sleep after a game like this - it stays with you, that’s for sure. But we’ve all been there before, plenty times. We know what it takes to get back up from a bad result and that’s our job now.”
Mulgrew admitted the Scotland defence had been at fault for the goal which Georgian midfielder Valeri Kazaishvili netted eight minutes before half-time and which ultimately was all that separated the two sides at the end of the 90 minutes.
The 29-year-old felt the defensive set up which Kakhaber Tskhadadze deployed made it very difficult for the visitors to force their way back into the match in the second half despite Strachan bringing on James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths.
“You lose a goal against Georgia they way they play, sitting in the way they do, and they’ll make it hard for you,” he said. “It was a horrible moment when that goal went in, but you just need to get on with it. We had the belief that we could get ourselves back into it the way we’ve done before, but it just wasn’t to be. We just didn’t have enough about us on the night.
“We are disappointed to let the fans who travelled all of the way here to see us play down. We didn’t perform on the night and can’t blame the referee or anybody else. It is our responsibility and we have to set about making sure it doesn’t happen again.
“We will work hard in training and try to come up with a game plan which we feel will work against Germany. The boys are all devastated at the display and the result, but the fact we have a game on Monday night means that we can go out and do something about it.
“There isn’t much time to get ready for this game, but we will do what we have to do. It is certainly a game for us to look forward to. We won’t have any problem getting ourselves up for this match at all. The boys have a point to prove after such a disappointing display and result.”
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