THE clubs that earn Scotland's places in next season's Uefa Cup must do so in the knowledge that they may have to face a better than decent opponent, with vastly greater resources than themselves, and be expected to dispatch them. I don't know if that's an entirely fair proposition.

On Thursday night we were outclassed by Nancy and lost 2-0. In the early hours of Friday morning I began my usual process of self-analysis in which I examine my own and my team's performance.

I know my players inside out and I know what I see in any match they play. I slept soundly after the match, content in the knowledge that we had all given it our best shot and that we had been beaten by a better team. But I was interested in understanding why they were better, and what we could do to be as good as they clearly were.

I was given a list of 22 players Nancy have. Many of them have come through their system and have been at the club for many years. The French club spend a substantial portion of their 45m annual budget on their academy.

There they have 50 boys aged between 13 and 18 who are scouted from around the country and its dependencies. The boys are resident at the club and are educated and trained by the club. The regime they are subject to is disciplined and produces young players with a great work ethic. It prepares them brilliantly for the professional game.

We work extremely hard to be as bad as we sometimes appear. We cover every base in trying to find ways to improve our players. It is my responsibility to maximise the resources at my disposal and to make the players the best they can be.

It helps to have them playing to their strengths, in a system that accommodates their abilities, allowing them to express themselves within a disciplined formation.

We managed this last season when we produced a style of play that was often fast and exciting to watch. Our system was based on a 4-3-3 and was positive and attack-minded. It was exactly the same philosophy the French team displayed on Thursday evening. We took Nancy on at their own game and they were better at it.

Many observers were surprised that we started with a back three and that young Jamie Murphy started on the bench. The intelligence I gained from my contacts in France had warned me that Nancy would play a 3-4-1-2 system. I had to consider how this would impact on our intended system and I decided we would have to change our thinking.

We would have started with two central midfield players who would have been overrun, risking the eventuality that this would undermine the players' and the crowd's spirits and that Nancy would score early, effectively ending the contest.

Their system would also have left Murphy playing as a right wing-back directly opposed to a very strong opponent who would have exposed our young player's defensive inexperience. Playing the system we did was the right decision and, although it was clear from early on we were facing very strong opposition, we were well in the match.

To lose the goals as we did compromised any plan we had. Before the game we warned the players against conceding unnecessary free-kicks in dangerous areas but we still did so and that is what cost us.

Without sounding clichéd, we must learn from the experience. I know managers often say that in defeat, but we should not miss this opportunity to improve.

I am challenging Dave Clarkson and our other strikers to look at Marc-Antoine Fortune and Monsef Zerka and learn from them. Their movement, strength and touch were a great example of what our forwards should be aspiring to. Steven Hughes is a super player but Youssef Hadji was better. Steven can be as good as Hadji if he is prepared to work hard enough.

I am asking my players to look at what they saw on Thursday and work even harder to improve. That can only be done on the training ground and can only be achieved with sustained hard work and commitment. I am prepared to work as hard as I ever have to produce better teams and to help my players, but they have to want it. Those who do will emerge.

Nancy would give the Old Firm a run for their money and it will be interesting to see how they fare in the next stages of the competition. I am a better manager for having been involved in these two matches against them. It has whetted my appetite for this football and against Falkirk today we will continue our efforts to qualify again.

One paper described my team as "McGhee's flops" after Thursday. The person who wrote that did not understand what he saw on Thursday night. But it was a warning to the Scottish managers dreaming of getting into European football: there is a price to pay for success.