Do Scotland need to reset expectations after 'bleak' campaign?
Leanne Crichton believes Scotland's "bleak" Nations League campaign can't end quickly enough, while fellow former international Joelle Murray has called for a reset of expectations amid the national team's "very underwhelming" form.Scotland were relegated from the top tier of the Nations League last week as Melissa Andreatta's tenure as head coach began with a 1-0 home loss to Austria.Andreatta's side play their final fixture away to the Netherlands tonight - live on BBC Scotland - seeking a first point after five successive defeats."It's been a real poor run of form for Scotland in terms of the results, even going back beyond this Nations League campaign," ex-midfielder Crichton told BBC Scotland."As bleak as this Nations League campaign has felt, we understand the magnitude of the challenge going up against real top sides in the Netherlands and Germany."The disappointment lies with the two Austria games, which when anybody looked at the draw would have been the two games that you earmarked as your potential three points and looked to maximise that opportunity."The fact we've lost on both occasions just leaves the nation feeling deflated."We've gone from qualifying for two back-to-back major tournaments [Euro 2017 and 2019 World Cup] and we've fallen off the edge of a cliff because we've not capitalised on that."We find ourselves now a huge transitional period."Former defender Joelle Murray echoed those sentiments, telling the BBC's Scottish Football podcast: "There's no hiding from it, it's been a very underwhelming, frustrating, disappointing campaign for the national team."It's maybe one of those ones where we may need to reset our expectations. What we've been experiencing, is that now our reality?"Do we need to reset, refocus and get back on a journey that gets us back to where we were in 2017 and 2019?"
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