The nation’s hopes of making it to Russia 2018 are hanging by a thread.
Dropped points at home to Lithuania and the slump in Slovakia means Gordon Strachan’s side are already playing catch-up to England, Slovenia and the Lithuanians in qualifying Group F.
Second place may not even guarantee a spot in Russia, and that is why McArthur feels Scotland have to produce a quality display – and win – against our main rivals.
The Crystal Palace midfielder said: “It is going to be tough and we need to produce something special to get us back in it.
“After what I would call not a great start, the table is still very tight.
“We are going to need to produce a special result somewhere along the line.
“You look at Ireland in the previous group, where they had a relatively bad start and then produced two massive results and qualified for Euro 2016.
“We need to stay positive. I know it is hard right now after we have just lost, but we still have an opportunity to put things right.”
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Fri, April 15, 2016Express Sport takes a look at some of the greatest players who have appeared in both the English and Scottish top flights in recent times
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There would be nowhere better to produce in the eyes of the Tartan Army than next month, when they make the journey to Wembley.
But the travelling support will take some time to get over what they witnessed in Trnava on Tuesday night.
McArthur said: “It is a disappointing result. I didn’t think it was a 3-0 game.
“I didn’t think there was too much between Slovakia and ourselves but they took their chances and that has been the decisive factor.
“I felt we were in the game but it deflated us a bit when they scored their second goal. It knocked the stuffing out of us and they seemed to grow in confidence. It was really ‘game over’ after that.
“It is a tough place to come to but we have left with this feeling of disappointment.
“We know we are going to need to produce something special – a big result – to get us back on track.”
Sections of the Tartan Army have turned on the manager but McArthur insists it is the players who should be carrying the can. When asked if Strachan was the man to lead the team forward, the 29-year-old replied: “He is, definitely.
“His game plan against Slovakia worked and sloppy goals cost us.
“We controlled long spells of the game and had opportunities. That was down to the manager’s game plan.”