Clarke sets out to finish off job two years in making
Manager has put stamp on team following start to Nations League campaign campaign
AQUALIFYING campaign that effectively got underway two years, two months and two days ago will finally come to an end for Scotland this evening.
Victory over Serbia in the Euro 2020 play- off final in Belgrade will make all of heartache suffered and turmoil encountered since the opening Nations League Group C1 match with Albania in Glasgow back in 2018 well worth it.
That only three of the players who started in that 2- 0 win at Hampden, John McGinn, Callum McGregor and Andy Robertson, are certain to be on the field in the Rajko Mitic Stadium at kick- off tonight indicates just how much the national team has been through to reach this juncture.
Yet, Steve Clarke and his players also have a chance to consign over two decades of hurt, disappointment, near misses and failure, not just two tumultuous seasons, to the past by beating Ljubisa Tumbakovic’s side.
That it is now 22 long years since Scotland last graced the finals of a major tournament has increased the pressure on Robertson and his team mates to deliver ten fold.
A nation, as always, expects. There are, though, good reasons for the eternally optimistic Tartan Army to be hopeful on this particular occasion despite the calibre of the opposition and the fact the fixture will take place at an away venue.
Clarke has overseen an eight match unbeaten run that started before the coronavirus outbreak and continued after the football shutdown was lifted. His charges have bought into his vision, adapted to his new 3- 5- 1- 1 formation and are executing his game plan. They are robust at the back, industrious and creative in midfield and pose a threat up front.
The man in charge has, slowly but surely, improved performance levels and results in exactly same way he did during his remarkable spell in the dugout at Kilmarnock since succeeding Alex McLeish last year.
Having played coached and managed at a high level in England for many years with, among others, Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle United, he is certainly unfazed personally by the hysteria surrounding this outing and quietly confident his charges can compete.
“I’ve never gone into a game of football where you don’t have that nervous feeling, whether you’re a player or a manager,” he said before flying out to Belgrade yesterday. “It is always there on match day.
“But before that you just have to prepare yourself properly and that’s what we’ve been doing this week. We’re trying to keep it business as usual. It’s difficult for me as a manager to get carried away with the hype. We have to continue to do what we’ve done before. We need to reach the same high standards.
“Honestly, as we approach the game now, I’m perfectly calm. I think we have prepared as well as we can prepare. We spoken about getting to this match in the best shape possible, with a good bit of positivity around us, and we’ve
managed to do that. Hopefully we do ourselves justice on the night.”
Clarke lost three key players, Stuart Armstrong, Ryan Christie and Kieran Tierney, after the former tested positive for coronavirus just two days before the play- off semi- final against Israel last month. This time around he has an altogether different problem – having an abundance of options.
It is unlikely, but not inconceivable, that he could leave Arsenal left- back Tierney out. Andrew Considine, Liam Cooper, Declan Gallagher and Scott McTominay helped Scotland keep clean sheets in that match and subsequent outings against Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It will be hard for him to change a winning side.
“That’s the job,” he said. “The players are all professional enough to realise that. If I have to make the tough calls then I will be judged on the result of the game and not the team that I pick, that’s normal.”
Clarke has, however, an easy decision to make about who to select up front. Lyndon Dykes, the Australia- born striker who chose to play for Scotland this summer, has been a revelation since making his international debut against Israel back in August and has scored two goals in five appearances. The QPR man should be one of the first names on the team sheet.
“Lyndon will be fine if he is selected to start,” he said. “He will be fine because he has a good mentality and is very confident. He is in a good place and he has been a good player for us in recent matches so I have no worries with Lyndon on that front. His mentality is good and I think he will become a big game player. I think we will see that tomorrow night.”
Making Scotland less porous at the back has been every bit
It’s difficult for me as a manager to get carried away
as important to their recent resurgence as the emergence of Dykes. Clarke was criticised when he switched to a three man defence. He is glad he has persevered. The newfound defensive reliability will prove crucial against opponents who can field Sergej Milinkovic- Savic in midfield and Aleksandar Mitrovic in attack.
“We just felt maybe we were conceding too many goals so we thought about tightening it up and we did that with the three central defenders,” he said. “That took away a little bit attacking wise, but made us a little bit more resilient.”
Beating Serbia, who defeated Norway away after extra- time in their play- off semi- final in Oslo, away could, despite the absence of a hostile crowd, prove to be beyond Scotland. Clarke knows they are by no means the finished article.
“We are still a work in progress even though we’re going into this game eight games unbeaten,” he said.
“Yes, that’s where we wanted to be and we’ve managed to do that. But I’m not getting carried away and thinking we’ve cracked it.
“Even if we win the game tomorrow night we won’t have cracked it. We’ll still have to keep improving with this group of players that we’ve got.”
Clarke will be hailed as a national hero if Scotland are successful and make it through to the rescheduled Euro 2020 finals. But just ending a barren run that stretches back to France ’ 98 will be reward enough for the manager.
“I’ve never been one to covet that adulation,” he said. “Even as a player I liked to be a wee bit under the radar. I like to be appreciated by the people around about me. If I get respect from them then that is good enough for me. If we win I might be happy for a little while. But then I will be back to my miserable self.”
It will be harder to wipe the smiles off the faces of Scotland fans everywhere.