In the direct aftermath of Scotland’s 3-0 defeat to Greece on Sunday, there was a split in the camp. ‘It’s an embarrassing night for us,’ admitted midfielder John McGinn.
Asked shortly afterwards if he agreed with his player’s assessment, Steve Clarke offered a rather surprising rebuttal. ‘No, after my time in the game, it is better not to use those kind of words,’ said the head coach.
Which leaves one to ask: which kind of words should McGinn have used? Because the Aston Villa skipper was spot on in his appraisal.
There was no hiding from what had just happened on the Hampden pitch. Scotland had just blown a 1-0 first-leg lead in their Nations League play-off and, with it, a chance to go into World Cup qualifying in rude health.
To claim it was anything other than ‘embarrassing’ would be disingenuous to say the least.
Clarke did admit he would go away and look at himself after the defeat. And so he should.
Steve Clarke’s cautious team selection against Greece was a lurch back to the bad old days
Bologna captain Lewis Ferguson had to settle for an appearance as a substitute at Hampden
Clarke must select a coaching team that brings out the best in Scotland’s talented squad
While the manager was deserving of praise for turning around that dreadful run of form last year, this was a worrying lurch back to those bad old days.
It was Clarke at his most reserved, his most cautious. His team selection lacked punch and imagination — and the Greeks lapped it up.
Is there hope that Scotland can get back on track in time for the World Cup qualifiers? Of course.
Here, Mail Sport looks at some of the issues that Clarke may reflect on after such a calamity… and some of the changes he may — or may not — make in the future.
Right back to basics
Tony Ralston deserves huge praise for how he has coped with being thrust into the role as Scotland’s first choice right-back. When Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson were both ruled out ahead of last summer’s Euros, Ralston was rightly given the nod to take his place in the backline for the tournament.
He was the established third choice and he could boast top level experience in the Champions League with Celtic. Rate him or not, it was the right call in the circumstances.
But the facts of the matter are clear as day. Ralston is a stand-in for Celtic, and he is limited. With his club situation unchanged, there was a need for Clarke to find another option while his two main picks remain sidelined. And in Sturm Graz’s Max Johnston, he had an obvious call to make.
Yes, Johnston is still raw and underexposed at the top level, but he has grown immeasurably as a player by moving to the continent, remaining patient and taking his chances when they have come along.
Having spent much of last season as an understudy himself, the former Motherwell kid has become a key figure this year for the Austrian Bundesliga leaders, starting regularly and playing in five of his side’s six Champions League outings. He is not a kid any longer.
We know what Ralston can — or cannot — do, so let’s see what Johnston is about. It is hard to see any top-level international coach, when faced with the choice between a Celtic reserve or a first-pick for a league-leading side playing at the top level in Europe, making the same call Clarke made.
Baffling at the back
Speaking of wrong choices, the call made in central defence is even more worrying. Listen, Grant Hanley takes a lot of stick and much of it is unfair. He has served his country with distinction and has carved out a tremendous club career, so often an under-appreciated figure at the heart of exposed defences, taking the flak and coming back for more time and time again.
But he has been an unused substitute on 27 occasions this season for both Norwich and his new club Birmingham. He has played for a combined total of 42 minutes across eight appearances for the Midlands outfit since moving there in January.
However you wish to do the maths, he was undercooked — and this is in England’s third tier.
Scott McKenna, on the other hand, is a regular 90-minute man for Las Palmas in Spain’s top division. He is competing against the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Julian Alvarez, Robert Lewandowski, Vinicius Junior and Antoine Griezmann on a weekly basis.
Surely regular exposure to genuine world-class front men trumps getting woodworm on the bench against the likes of Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton and Leyton Orient? Surely?
But not in Clarke’s world it seems. And it’s that blind loyalty and innate stubborness the national manager possesses that are the main reasons we find ourselves continually getting found out when the important examinations come around.
Midfield mix-up
So much has been said about the depth of talent available to Clarke in midfield. He must be the envy of many of the national team coaches he has come across given the aces in his pack. But it’s all very well having a good hand — it’s how you play it that counts.
For many, the midfield was another area that should have picked itself against the Greeks. Ryan Christie’s suspension from the first leg saw Clarke keep faith with Kenny McLean in Piraeus and it worked out just fine as Scotland held on for dear life to emerge with a 1-0 win.
Bringing the Bournemouth man in as a like-for-like replacement — or an upgrade, rather — for the Norwich City veteran would have been most fans’ idea of a meaningful tweak to the line-up from the first leg.
Few would have predicted Lewis Ferguson being the fall guy, never mind Christie being deployed in a position that is becoming increasingly alien to him at club level.
Again, if you strip it back and remove all loyalty from the equation, who in their right mind decides the Bologna captain — a man on the radar of Juventus and Inter Milan among others — should be bumped in favour of McLean, undoubtedly a dependable sort but so obviously lacking the X-factor of essentially every other midfield player in the squad around him?
Again, it comes down to loyalty over logic. And that stubbornness again, when it comes to playing Christie in a wide role despite the fact he’s been playing the finest football of his career these past two seasons in precisely the position handed to McLean.
Perhaps Clarke is cursed by having all his major talents in the one area of the pitch. Maybe there will always have to be tough decisions made to get the balance correct. But to possess the wealth of midfield riches Scotland have available and struggle to get a tune out of them is a cause for deep concern.
Flailing up front
If anything summed up the hopelessness that surrounds Scotland when it comes to falling short on these big occasions, it must have been the sight of Tommy Conway and young James Wilson being thrown on to join George Hirst in a desperate bid to drag Scotland back into the game against Greece.
Desperate is the word. It’s certainly not a secret that Scotland lack finishers at the top end of the pitch, and it’s to Clarke’s credit that he appears to be searching hard for fresh blood. But to end the match at Hampden with essentially three rookies chasing shadows just underlined how wretched things have become.
It seems to have been the way for Clarke in his entire time in the post. His first match in charge of Scotland, against Cyprus at Hampden in 2019, saw Eamonn Brophy lead the line, with Johnny Russell and Marc McNulty on the bench and Oliver Burke coming on to save the day with a last-minute winner.
Steven Naismith, Oli McBurnie and Lawrence Shankland all started games up top before Clarke stumbled upon Lyndon Dykes and Che Adams with some success. Kevin Nisbet and Jacob Brown have been in the mix more recently but were left watching this time as the more youthful trio closed out the match against the Greeks.
Of course, we can’t blame Clarke for the lack of striking talent in the Scottish ranks. But you would hope that, 65 games into his reign, there would be more of a back-up plan than to just start throwing caps around and hoping for the best.
Coaching team
With the squad clearly struggling to maximise their individual talents and replicate performances seen at club level, it is only natural to look at the coaching set-up and ask if it suits the current group of players.
Clarke was joined for the last time by long-time assistant John Carver for the play-off loss to the Greeks, with the Geordie having taken over as manager at Polish side Lechia Gdansk and severing ties with the SFA to focus on his day-to-day job.
That means there will be more changes to a set-up that has been anything but steady in Clarke’s time. The role of ‘third man’ to the senior duo has switched hands a number of times, with Steven Reid, James Morrison and Steven Naismith having all taken their seat on the bench at Hampden. Add in Austin MacPhee, who was set-piece coach until relinquishing the role shortly after an apparent disagreement with Clarke at last year’s Euros.
The latest man to join Clarke and Carver is Alan Irvine, an apparent departure from the more youthful choices that preceded him. Does this mean the coaching set-up lacks a natural link with the players?
At the time of Irvine’s addition to the coaching set-up, Carver had said: ‘He’s going to look at, in particular, the attacking side of how we play. Fresh face, fresh ideas.’
A former winger whose best work came at Crystal Palace in the mid-80s, it is hard to imagine too many of the current squad can recall seeing Irvine in his prime. Would someone who played the game at a high level this century have been a better fit to influence the young minds in the squad?
If Clarke intends to stick around and lead the side into the World Cup qualifying campaign later this year, here’s hoping he forgets about any old pals’ acts and selects a coaching team that can bring the best out of the undoubtedly talented group of players he has at his disposal. Because things are clearly not working at the moment.
