It was arguably Scotland's biggest game for a generation, yet they were a shadow of the side who beat Denmark at a packed Hampden Park six months ago to guarantee home advantage for the play-off semi-final.

There have been improvements under Steve Clarke - the defeat was a first in nine games, and last summer's European Championships marked the Scots' first major finals appearance since 1998.

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But what needs to change for the national team to return to the biggest stage at the 2026 World Cup?

Former Scotland captain Graeme Souness was at Hampden Park on Wednesday night and the Sky Sports pundit believes plenty of work is required.

"We're talking about getting the ball wide and crossing it into the box and pushing two centre halves up, that's in the last stages of the game to try to retrieve the situation," said Souness, who played at three World Cups.

"That's not what modern football is about, it's about cute and clever passing and we never had that. They (Ukraine) did, in abundance. That's something we have to look at.

"If we're to progress and be a threat at this level and qualify for World Cups we have to be a better football team, not a team that's scratching around looking for a last-minute equaliser because we've just thrown the ball into the box for a big man.

"Overall we just didn't play enough football. We couldn't get hold of the ball and keep it. We did it in our half but the minute we crossed the halfway line we gave it away for fun. We just didn't have the quality in there to sustain any pressure on the Ukrainians.

"We're just not good enough, and it saddens me to say that."

'Scotland squad best it has been in years'

Ally McCoist, who played at the 1990 World Cup, struck a more upbeat tone afterwards.

"The reason we have improved is because we do have a better quality of player, we have a better standard of player," the former Scotland assistant told Sky Sports.

"We do have boys who can pass the ball: (Billy) Gilmour, (John) McGinn, (Ryan) Christie, (Callum) McGregor, they can all pass the ball.

"They got outnumbered in the middle of the park, tactically I thought Ukraine were spot on. Zinchenko was terrific.

"We do have far better players than we've had for a number of years but unfortunately they didn't perform to the best of their ability, they didn't pass the ball well enough and they didn't create enough chances."

Scotland now have to pick themselves up for their Nations League campaign, which starts at home to Armenia on June 8.

Winning their group, which also includes Ukraine and the Republic of Ireland, would mean both promotion to Group A and a play-off place should they fail to qualify automatically for the next Euros.