Matthew Lindsay Clarke not immune from blame but fans must get real
Chief football writer and Saturday columnist
HE ENDED a run of disappointment and failure in European Championship and World Cup qualifying campaigns that had lasted for 23 years when he led Scotland through to the Euro 2020 finals with a playoff final victory over Serbia in Belgrade in 2020.
And he oversaw the longest winning streak the national team has enjoyed since way back in 1930 this season and secured runners-up spot in Group F and a place in the Qatar 2022 play-off semi-final as a result.
So it is wrong, despite the desperately disappointing display against Ukraine at Hampden on Wednesday night and the 3-1 defeat that ended the country’s hopes of reaching the finals in November, to turn on Steve Clarke after one bad result.
Those irate Tartan Army footsoldiers who have taken to social media and called radio phone-ins demanding that Clarke pay the ultimate price for the midweek reverse have very short memories indeed.
The former Newcastle United, Chelsea and Liverpool assistant manager has resurrected Scotland’s fortunes during the three years he has been in charge and deserves the opportunity to continue in his role and try to reach the Euro 2024 finals in Germany.
Yes, the performance against Ukraine was poor. But if John McGinn had headed home from a few yards out in the second half when an empty net was beckoning the final outcome would have been quite different. The lines between triumph and disaster in international football are infinitesimal.
Would it have been a different story if the Path A match had gone ahead as scheduled in March? The disruption to Scotland’s preparations were trivial in comparison with what their opponents had to deal with. Still, they were a pale imitation of the side that had defeated Euro 2020 semi-finalists Denmark in their last competitive fixture back in November. Momentum was definitely lost.
Would they have fared better if Kieran Tierney and Nathan Patterson had been available for selection? The duo were among the stand-out performers during their eight-game unbeaten streak. They were sorely missed both in defence and attack.
Nothing, too, should be taken away from Ukraine. They highlighted why they had reached the Euro 2020 quarter-finals last summer with an accomplished, dominant, professional performance that lifted the hearts of their war-torn country. They can go into the play-off final against Wales in Cardiff tomorrow evening confident of victory.
Yet, Clarke should by no means be immune from blame. As he analyses the 90 minutes and attempts to determine what went wrong before the Nations League match against Armenia in Glasgow on Wednesday evening, he must accept his share of the responsibility and look at how he, personally, can do better in future.
Oleksandr Petrakov’s men took control of proceedings quickly and would have forged two ahead had it not been for the brilliance of Craig Gordon in goals. It was obvious that a change was required very early on.
So why wait 45 minutes to make it?
The defence had been cut open on a few occasions before Andriy Yarmolenko netted the opener
Clarke finally acted at halftime and replaced Lyndon Dykes, who had worked hard up front alongside Che Adams without making a real impact, with Ryan Christie.
The Bournemouth playmaker was integral to the spirited late fightback which Scotland staged after they had fallen 2-0 behind.
But his introduction came too late to make a material difference to the final outcome.
It would have been a major shock if the former Reading and Kilmarnock manager had made a substitution during the first half. But would a tactical switch not at least have helped his charges to gain more of a foothold in the match and prevented them from falling behind?
Clarke moved Scott McTominay from defence into midfield and changed from a back three to a back four when he replaced Liam Cooper with Jack Hendry in the second half.
Scotland enjoyed their best spell thereafter. Perhaps that had something to do with Ukraine subconsciously dropping deep to protect their lead. Maybe the visitors were tiring at that stage, too.
Still, would it have been worth altering the formation earlier than the 68th minute? It certainly transformed the Qatar 2022 qualifier against Israel in Tel Aviv in March last year and enabled Ryan Fraser to net a deserved equaliser.
Playing a three-man rearguard and two-man strikeforce has worked well in the past. But Arsenal left-back Tierney has invariably been deployed at left centre-back when it has. Leeds United captain Liam Cooper was not a like-for-like replacement for his compatriot.
A refusal to alter things sooner may have proved costly against Ukraine. A greater flexibility is required in order to achieve results against better international sides in future. Clarke has publicly stated that he wants his team to be able to utilise different formations. Moldova were beaten 2-0 away in November with a 3-4-3. There remains, though, considerable room for improvement if this Scotland side is to realise its full potential.
Susan Egelstaff