CONGAS NO LONGER FOR SCOTLAND
Clarke needs solutions as Belgrade euphoria fades
THE congas round the team hotel have stopped. No one wants to boogie along to Baccara like it’s 1977 anymore. And David Marshall is learning just how fragile the throne supporting the new King of Scotland can be.
Since Marshall’s penalty stop from Aleksandar Mitrovic in Belgrade four months ago secured qualification for the Euro 2020 finals, the national team have played four internationals. They travelled to Israel twice and failed to beat the nation rated 87th in the FIFA rankings. They lost 1-0 in Slovakia. Last Thursday night, they fought back twice to draw 2-2 with Austria at home.
Contrast these results with the handwringing in the Republic of Ireland over a home defeat to Luxembourg and they don’t seem quite so bad. But while two draws in our opening World Cup qualifiers don’t necessarily equate to a team heading for hell in a handcart, neither do they inspire confidence that the side is destined to reach Qatar 2022.
Some in world football don’t think anyone should be heading for the Middle East in 18 months’ time. Norway, Germany and Denmark’s national teams protested against human-rights abuses before their games over the last few days. Amnesty
There can only be one left-back and few can agree which one it should be
International, meanwhile, appealed to FIFA to act on labour abuses before the qualifiers kicked off.
The worry is that Scotland will stage their boycott along the usual lines — by declining to qualify. The euphoria of ending a 23-year wait for a major finals now gone, the team have done their best to bring the nation back down to earth. One extreme to the other is the Scotland way.
‘It’s just the way things are,’ shrugged manager Steve Clarke. ‘Everybody gets a wee bit carried away in the heat of the moment. Everybody wants to judge things in that instant.
‘But that’s not the way I look at things. From our perspective, it’s going to be a long group and there are lots of points still to play for, starting with the Faroes on Wednesday night.
‘If we get to the end of the first week with five points from our first three games then we can all sit down, look at the table and take stock.
‘Don’t forget. Denmark now have to play Austria, so something has got to give there. Let’s not get involved in knee-jerk reactions. Let’s wait and see how the table is looking when the first round of games are over and then we will be able to see what we have to do.’
Relying on others to drop points after five games is the usual. After two, it’s a bad sign. While group pacesetters Denmark travelled to Israel and swatted aside a team with three wins from their last 14 matches, Scotland made heavy weather of claiming a point.
At the end of a passive first half, Marshall was criticised for getting a hand to a long-range strike from Dor Peretz and failing to keep the ball out.
Clarke changed his formation at half-time and the impact was immediate.
Scotland managers have jumped through tactical hoops in recent times to accommodate Andrew Robertson and Kieran Tierney, two world-class left-backs, in the same team.
The logic is fair enough. Shoehorn as many good footballers into the starting XI by hook or by crook and you should have a better team. The problem is that there can only be one left-back in a team — and few can agree which one it should be.
The compromise is to switch to a back three and play Tierney on the left side. A formation which sacrifices a body in midfield, the Scots looked a good deal more comfortable with the switch to a 4-2-3-1 in the second half.
Tierney played centre-back in a four and it worked fine. Yet some feel the former Celtic defender’s delivery from wide areas is wasted as a central defender and argue that he — and not Champions League-winning captain Robertson — should be playing left-back. Understandably, that’s a decision Clarke is reluctant to make. The second half in Israel offered tentative signs that the two can function together in a back four.
‘It was one point more than we managed to get the last two times we have been in Israel,’ said Clarke. ‘Let’s take the positive from that.
‘I wasn’t happy with the way we started the game because I felt we never really got a grip of it in the first half-hour. I thought we had weathered the storm before half-time and the changes I made at the break were already in my mind.
‘I thought it was a good performance in the second half and, once again, the players showed their character to get the goal and get back into the match. But if we are going to improve the way we want to, we need to be good enough to get a grip of these games from the start. We will be better than that as the team develops.’
The Faroes created a brief ripple when they took the lead after five minutes in Austria on Sunday. The home nation eventually fought back to win 3-1.
‘Just look at the problems Spain had against Georgia,’ added Clarke. ‘Then you just have to look at Slovakia drawing 2-2 at home to Malta the other night. The Faroes also took the lead against Austria, so we know we can’t afford to take them lightly. But, at the same time, we do understand that it’s a game we have to win.’