IT’S TIME FOR CLARKE TO GO BACK TO BASICS:
ALOT of people did a great many aimless, worthless and pointless things during lockdown. Which is entirely okay. In fact, well done to all who ignored the ‘self-made’ trust-fund babies and self-appointed influencers who urged us all to spend the time levelling up skill sets and developing ‘side hustles’.
Because there is definitely such a thing as overthinking a situation. Paralysis by analysis can afflict the most clear-headed among us.
Two fixtures into this Nations League campaign, and with the biggest opportunity for a generation looming on the horizon, Steve Clarke seems intent on proving as much.
Judging by his attempts to reinvent the 3-4-3 and shoehorn players into unfamiliar positions, the Scotland head coach — an experienced and hugely respected pro — would appear to have spent isolation running through every possible combination of personnel and positions. And then creating a few of his own.
You can almost imagine him scribbling on the walls like Russell Crowe’s character in A Beautiful
Mind, muttering: ‘Wait, wait, wait… if we can play Scott McTominay at right centre-half, then John McGinn as a kind of right-sided attacking midfielder… you know, it just might work!’
But it didn’t. Nor did some of the other very, ahem, bold moves made by Clarke during Friday’s scrappy 1-1 home draw with Israel and Monday night’s brand new Scottish experience against the Czech mid-table XI — the genuinely unprecedented phenomenon of a humiliating victory.
Honestly? We’d have been better off if Clarke had spent the Great Isolation like the rest of us. Binge-watching trashy TV and screaming into the abyss.
Look, we get it. Sometimes, you need to try things. And, with the Nations League literally set up as a direct replacement for friendlies, these two games represented a chance to experiment.
But please tell us Clarke has a more clear and coherent plan in mind for next month’s play-off semi-final against Israel at Hampden.
Come on, gaffer, say you’ve got a plan to contain the fearsome Erling Haaland should we somehow get through to a final against the frankly terrifying Norwegians.
There’s nothing inherently bad about the new system. Especially if it helps you to squeeze both Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson into the same starting XI. Although that made Monday’s line-up minus KT seem all the more baffling.
But, if Scotland continue to look as vulnerable and disjointed as they have over the past 180 minutes of agonising viewing, we won’t be capitalising on that lucky losers’ chance to qualify for the Euro 2020 finals.
And Clarke will be about as popular as Novak Djokovic at a meeting of… well, anyone, really.
The really confusing element of all this is that his strengths as a coach, the things he is actually a bit famous for, seem to be missing from Scotland.
His Kilmarnock team couldn’t be broken down without dynamite and a couple of Sherman tanks providing back-up.
Look through the cuts and you’ll find umpteen examples of Killie players waxing lyrical about their old boss never asking them to do things beyond their abilities. He never tried to fit a square peg into a round hole.
It just doesn’t sound like the same guy who persisted with McTominay, one of our best midfielders, in an unfamiliar role. Even if sticking with the Manchester United player says more about the qualify of actual central defenders available to Clarke.
The midfield ‘box’ in the new formation, the four central players in the 3-4-2-1, is a tactic that can work brilliantly when executed well. Defensively, it clogs up the centre of the park and makes it tough for any opposition team to play ‘through’ you. That’s the theory.
But our two-plus-two looked pretty easy to bypass, especially in Monday night’s horror show.
And they only seemed to jam the passing lanes when we had the ball, forcing our back three to try things beyond their wit and ability.
That actually showed in analysis of the game, with Scotland recording some fairly bangaverage numbers when it came to ‘progressive passes’ — ie balls that create penetration through the opposition ranks.
Perhaps it’s best not to look too closely at the stats, though. Or, indeed, to ever speak of these two ugly encounters ever again.
Clarke has three weeks until he names the squad for that play-off. Sorry, play-offs. Patriotism demands positivity, remember. Regardless of the reality.
He should use this time wisely. Tiger King is still on Netflix, right?