OUT OF MISERY

IT’S NO FUN

being scunnered to a whole new level.

Clarke has to bring this team together and get it back in working order between now and the Nations League play-offs in March when our last hopes will go on the line.

That he has to find a way of doing so tonight against the side ranked No.1 on the planet just adds to the feeling Clarke’s timing truly stinks.

Of all the teams in all of the world the Belgians are the last one Clarke needed to be walking into in his right now.

The manager looked taken aback by the frailty of his side’s confidence on Friday night so somehow he needs to coax these players back out of their shells or remove them entirely from harm’s way before Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku swagger out of the tunnel tonight.

Clarke is hardly spoiled for choice for the right-back slot but he may be forced to go with O’Donnell as midfielder Ryan Jack, who could have slotted in there, has been sent back to Rangers.

Also Clarke will have to sit down with central trio Scott McTominay, John McGinn and Callum McGregor to establish exactly where they went on Friday when their presence needed to be felt in the middle of the pitch. This talented trio ought to offer Scotland a solid platform but they can’t malfunction as badly again against the Belgians or the consequences will be even more disastrous.

Clarke will have to decide if he can trust them to perform or if Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong or Kenny McLean should come into contention.

Also, James Forrest has looked strangely out of sorts over the last couple of weeks and even though the winger worked his socks off defensively against Russia he made little if any impact going forward.

If Forrest is running low on fumes then Clarke could turn to Robert Snodgrass or Matt Phillips and ask one of them to step in.

Most important of all though Clarke needs to come up with something, anything, to reignite the imagination.

If not then it might well feel as if Scotland’s fun has been stopped indefinitely.