Wales boss Chris Coleman feels he and his team let their country down with their 6-1 defeat in Serbia - but he believes the pressure that has put them under could prove a good thing going into Friday night's clash with Scotland.
Ahead of the World Cup qualifier against the Scots at Cardiff City Stadium, the Dragons are bottom of Group A having lost 2-0 at home to Belgium and then been hit for six in Novi Sad in their opening two fixtures.
"The players know we let our country down, big style," Coleman said. "But the players we have are a good set - a little bit quiet, but we have a lot of young boys. They are good guys, they want to do well and we can do a lot better than we did against Serbia."
Her went on: "We have put more pressure on ourselves for the Scotland game because of the nature of the defeat against Serbia, but maybe that is a good thing because it has made me make some big decisions, and all the players are in a corner where there is only one way they can go - if you are stuck in a corner, you have to fight your way out."
The Belgium and Serbia results last month extended Wales' losing streak since Coleman was appointed as boss to five games, including the 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica in the Gary Speed memorial match.
New skipper Ashley Williams has sought to ease the focus on the manager by stressing the players' role in the poor run, and says they want to win for Coleman.
"After the results I think you are always going to get criticised, especially him - being the manager, it is obviously going to fall on his shoulders," said Williams.
"All the boys really like him and we have enjoyed working with him. We really want to win for him as well.
"He is going to be criticised and we would like to turn that around for him because I don't think it's really deserved.
"I think we have kind of let him down on the pitch and we would like to put that right."
Source: PA
