Clarke eyes 12 points from four games
STEVE CLARKE last night set Scotland an ambitious target of four wins from their last four Euro 2020 qualifiers.
His resources decimated by the late withdrawals of striker Oli McBurnie and midfielder Kenny McLean, he will give Aberdeen defender Mikey Devlin his international debut against Russia in the Luzhniki Stadium tonight, while Oliver Burke is expected to lead the line up front.
Although he has won just one of four qualifiers, extinguishing hopes of automatic qualification, former Kilmarnock boss Clarke wants his team to gain crucial momentum ahead of the Nations League play-offs in March.
Dismissing talk of this evening’s match being a dead rubber, he wants victory over Russia followed by wins against San Marino at home, Cyprus away and Kazakhstan at home.
‘There are no free hits — I’d like 12 points from the remaining four games of this group,’ said Clarke. ‘Yes, it’s going to be really tough here in Russia but we owe it to the 1,000 or so Tartan Army who have travelled to watch us
‘I want a good performance level in the next four matches. My belief is always that, if the performance level is good enough, the points will follow.’
Admitting he is now in a race to get
Scotland ready for the play-offs, Clarke nonetheless called on fans to show patience. ‘This is only my third camp with the players,’ he said. ‘There has to be a sense of realism. If everybody is saying: “He did a great job at Kilmarnock getting them coached and well drilled” then I’d say to them it didn’t happen just like that. ‘It was over a period of time that the team at Kilmarnock forged its own identity. They played a certain way and it became very successful but it didn’t just happen suddenly. It evolved over a certain period of time and hopefully I get the time here to do the same. But that might take what seems like a hell of a long time. ‘I am a good manager but I think I’m a really good coach and I don’t get the time on the coaching pitch to work. ‘I’m not sitting here pleading for time in terms of my job. But over a period of time it might need ten training camps. I don’t know how many it will take before the players can start to turn up and say: “Right, we play a certain way for our club, but when we come here with Scotland this is how we do it”.’ Hammered by the loss of six central defenders, as well as the late withdrawals of English Premier League duo McBurnie and McLean, Clarke heads into a daunting game with threadbare resources. Devlin last played in a 5-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox but will partner Charlie Mulgrew at the heart of defence ahead of Stuart Findlay or Declan Gallagher. Clarke admitted he is considering an approach by former England defender Steven Caulker to play for Scotland. ‘Yes, it’s something we’ve discussed,’ he said. ‘It’s not as simple as: “Let’s call up Steven Caulker”. He’s in Turkey and it’s not so easy just to jump on a plane and watch him or get out there and have a conversation. If it’s a viable option and everybody wants it to happen, then maybe it can happen.’