A penny for the thoughts of Christian Eriksen. Denmark could justify leaving the 33-year-old out of their squad for the meetings with Scotland and Greece on the basis he remains unemployed. Yet as Denmark huffed, puffed and failed to unpick a magnificently drilled Scotland defence, the issue of what Eriksen could have contributed was such an obvious one. Denmark in this form will not play at next summer’s World Cup.
Steve Clarke’s Scotland were well worthy of their point. But for a lack of composure in front of goal, they would have departed Copenhagen with all three. The winners from this opening night of a truncated section were the Greeks, who swept Belarus aside, but Scotland richly deserved their full-time ovation from an appreciative support, while Denmark were booed off.
Clarke sprung a surprise with the deployment of two strikers, Ché Adams and Lyndon Dykes, from the outset. Dykes is a ferocious looking character these days; the Danish defence would be grateful to meet him on a football pitch as opposed to in a dark alley. Equally striking was the sight of John McGinn, who has typically operated on the left or centre of midfield for his country, on the right. Billy Gilmour and Ben Gannon-Doak were named as substitutes. Rasmus Højlund, fresh from his loan move from Manchester United to Napoli, was among Denmark’s replacements.
