John McGinn adorned the cover of the match programme on Tuesday, a super hero soaring above the city landscape, red cape flowing.
As a piece of artwork it was arresting, if a little out of place with what went down at a gloomy and angry Hampden.
In the closing minutes of this joyless grind for Scotland, Lawrence Shankland found himself in a tiny pocket of space in the Northern Ireland box and smashed a shot on goal.
Close range. Caught it sweet. On a dozen other days the net shakes. On the night of Scotland’s nightmares, it got blocked.
Brodie Spencer was the man who got in the way. Nineteen years old. Plays for Huddersfield.
In a team largely made up of callow youth, Spencer and his fellow underdogs were organised and disciplined and too mentally strong to buckle under the pressure Scotland put on them, which wasn’t nearly enough.
This is worrying. Oh so worrying. Steve Clarke will remain deadpan and calm, but underneath the steel there must be concern.
Booed off at the break. The captain in the casualty room. A goal behind and it should have been two. Then, substitutions and domination. Some chances created, some chances missed. Defeat. More boos.
When did the great Scottish party end? Where the hell are Baccara?
Clarke wanted a win, but he didn’t get it. If he couldn’t get a win he’d have reluctantly taken a draw, but all he got was huff and puff.
All of Scotland’s quality, all of their big names from the big clubs in England didn’t matter a damn against an organised force drawn from Bolton and Millwall, Preston and Stevenage.
There were two Liverpool players on show. The one who won the night was Conor Bradley, one of three 20-year-olds who started for the visitors.
Nuance to previous defeats was absent here
Five defeats in seven now for Scotland. No victory among any of that lot. Clarke wanted a clean sheet and he didn’t get that either. Nineteen goals shipped in seven matches.
This was supposed to be the night when Scotland got the wheels back on their bike, a night when momentum returned to the national team’s drive to the Euros.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this. After Amsterdam on Friday, the Scotland players lined up one-by-one and said that 4-0 was unacceptable, that their collapse from 2-0 was not who they are, that they needed to get back to the best version of themselves and quickly.
Clarke spoke of a lack of streetwise football in the Netherlands. Robertson looked and sounded furious as he tore into this team’s looseness and inability to stay in the fight. This was worse, though. A lot worse.
The lack of wit in trying to unlock the packed Northern Irish defence threatened to take the eyes out of your head at times. What has happened to the thrusting, confident Scotland of before? And why has it happened now?
There was nuance to the winless games that preceded this one. The 4-0 against the Netherlands? A lot of good stuff that night against an opponent with a lofty world ranking and home advantage. Accept it and move on. Learn the lessons, come up with a reaction and kick on, but Scotland didn’t.
The 3-3 against Norway and the 2-2 against Georgia. Ah, Scotland were full of the joys of a stellar showing in their qualification group at the time. They were without Kieran Tierney, Andy Robertson, Aaron Hickey and Grant Hanley. Big names absent, no big drama. Germany ahoy.
The 4-1 against France? Come on, it was France. And that defensive four were missing again. What else could you expect? The 2-0 loss to Spain. Decent passages in that one. The 3-1 against England. Not good, but not all that relevant.
The soothing balm for Scotland came in the form of knowing that they didn’t have to beat the top teams in Europe to make progress in Germany. There’s a gulf between the pot one big hitters and wherever Scotland are.
Lose to Germany in Munich in June? Fine. The testing grounds will come against Switzerland and Hungary. And until last night there were still many reasons to believe that they had a fighting chance in both of those contests.
Maybe they still do. But there’s anxiety now.
Unbound hope replaced by endless problems
Where before all you could see was hope, now it’s tricky to see beyond the problems.
There is a significant issue on the right-hand side of the defence, where Nathan Patterson roamed in the absence of the injury-plagued Hickey.
The last football Patterson has played for Everton were the nine minutes against Fulham at the end of January. Patterson looked precisely what he is – a rusty player lacking confidence.
He was responsible for the goal. A jumpy attempt to find Billy Gilmour, which was all risk and no reward. He turned away in horror when Bradley, with the help of a slight deflection, found the top corner.
If Patterson doesn’t play much from now until the end of the season, he can’t be an option for Scotland in Germany, surely. But who is?
Hickey – say a prayer for him. The alternative is Anthony Ralston, who doesn’t start many games for Celtic, or a return to the bad old days with Tierney moving across.
This tumult and uncertainty has dropped out of the sky for Scotland. From coasting along merrily, Clarke’s team look like they’re panting and wheezing their way to Munich.
The manager will remain calm. He has no other setting. He’ll go away and think. He’ll hope for Hickey’s return and for the restoration of Callum McGregor to his full powers.
He’ll cross his fingers for Hanley, because Scotland could do with his nous at the back, and there’s some pondering to be done about his main striker, too.
Shankland had chances but didn’t score in these two games. He looked more dangerous than Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams, however.
Scotland play Gibraltar and Finland before the big show kicks off against the host nation. Two games to find the feelgood.
Clarke has worked wonders with this set of players in his time in charge. One more trick is required by the time June comes around. He has to take them off the floor and make them fly again.
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