BRUTAL BUT IT WILL MAKE US.. BETTER
STEVE CLARKE admits the Euros ending was brutal.
But within a week the marks had healed and he was already plotting a World Cup appearance. Clarke had carried the nation to the highs. The event was savoured but then bang, after months of preparation, weeks building up with players, came shattering emptiness. The squad departed and he was left disappointed at the exit, knowing he’d not see his players again for two long months. It’s the life of an international manager. It’s what Clarke has chosen and he’s learned to cope with challenges thrown up. But it didn’t cushion the blow as he said: “The ending of a tournament is brutal. “You go to the game and you have plans for the next game. We came here with a realistic chance of getting a result against Croatia that would put us through. “At the end of that game, it’s back to the team hotel, a couple of beers, shake everybody’s hands and then they’re scattering all over the place, so the ending is quite brutal. “It took me about a week when I just went home. I chilled out and then started thinking about what I was going to do in the future.
“I’ve got to be honest, my thoughts were about the World Cup and trying to get to Qatar. I then had a little chat with my bosses here and decided a contract extension would be a good idea.”
The arrival of little baby Ivor as a fourth grandchild helped him escape in the summer but the job is never far away.
Having been lauded for taking the country to the finals, he was suddenly in the firing line. Ex-players had a go at tactics, some fans didn’t like the team selections.
Clarke looks back on it all knowing certain things could have been better but asked about his main feeling since the Euros, he said: “Pride.
“For the country being back at a major tournament and pride for the players they acquitted themselves well.
“They didn’t get the breaks and sometimes that happens.
“We didn’t get the points we felt we deserved but we take that on the chin and learn lessons. We’ll be better for it,
being together for the best part of four weeks, and we’ll improve for the experience of the tournament. And I hope we see that in the coming matches.
“It’s becoming more comfortable with each other.
“It was disappointing we couldn’t get the points, which maybe might have made another bit of history.
“But you have to move on, take the benefits from the tournament and use them in the future.
“It’s one of those jobs where you have to try to do it slowly. You’re always trying to improve.
“It’s just my opinion but the squad is now much improved from three years ago and that’s been by a process of having players in the squad, looking at them, seeing what they can do and can’t do.
“We have a nucleus of players we keep trying to bring and also to bring some young ones, which should help in the future. There is an element of forward planning but obviously the next games are the most important.
“You always look at your own performance. You always analyse what you have done. Could you have done things better?
“Yes, of course. Maybe if I’d done things better we’d have got the results. If the players had done things better, maybe we’d have got results. You’re always analysing and seeing what you can do going forward.
“It’s continuity and the same players getting more international experience, the more they play at a high level.
“If you take the tournament itself, our best performance was probably against the most difficult opponent, which in a way is pleasing because in recent years that hasn’t been the case. We’ve been brushed aside by the pot one teams, the better teams. So that was nice. But I feel we expended a lot of energy in that game and suffered in the third game.
“So things to learn, maybe from my own point of view utilise the squad a bit more over a short period of time.”
That’s one lesson that might help shortly. Denmark, Moldova and Austria in the space of seven days starting next Wednesday are tough gigs, albeit ones to relish. It’s why he’s staying. Clarke said: “I look back two years to when I came in and compare that to where we were in the summer, involved in a tournament with an improved squad getting more experience.
“Andy Robertson is approaching 50 caps, even players like Stephen O’Donnell are approaching 25.
“We’re gaining more experience and have improved a lot. It was relatively straightforward to try to improve on the work we have done so far.
“And improving now will probably be more difficult than improving from where we have been. It’s obviously a big week for us with two really tough away games and a home fixture in between.
“We have to look to get three points at home and then have to get points from the other games that gives us a realistic chance of qualifying from the section.”
Asked how many points are needed, Clarke smiled and said: “No idea. Nine would be nice!”