HOW DID BOOGIE TURN TO BOOS?
Scots need to quickly recover the feelgood factor as they limp towards a reality check at Euro finals
THE sound of Baccara booming out on the Tannoy was conspicuous by its absence. On a dismal night at Hampden, there was no boogie from the Tartan Army. Just boos.
Granted, the atmosphere was hardly mutinous. Why would it be? Scotland are heading off to the Euros in Germany in just a couple of months’ time.
But the jeers which met the full-time whistle against Northern Ireland on Tuesday night would have left Steve Clarke and the players in no doubt about how the mood music has changed.
Just a year ago, this team could walk on water. They had just beaten Spain 2-0 at Hampden and were in the process of reeling off five straight wins to tee up qualification.
Now, they are in danger of drowning before they even get to the Euros. A run of seven games without a win has drained all confidence.
There have been five defeats in those seven games, some of them to top-class opposition. England,
Spain, France and Holland will all be among the favourites to go all the way in the tournament.
Northern Ireland? Not so much. Michael O’Neill’s side didn’t even qualify, finishing second-bottom in a section which featured Denmark, Slovenia, Finland, Kazakhstan and San Marino.
They sit 74th in the FIFA world rankings. At Hampden, they fielded a youthful and inexperienced team with players plucked from Huddersfield, Bolton, Millwall and the likes.
Hence the concern for Scotland. Having faced Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Virgil van Dijk in recent months, this game was supposed to have a restorative effect on confidence.
Instead, it was dented even further. What unfolded was a massive reality check — and confirmation that this team have lost their mojo.
Never a man for wild displays of emotion, Clarke tends to conduct his business with a face that could turn Medusa to stone.
Win, lose or draw, his expression rarely changes. It was no surprise to hear him remain upbeat and positive in his post-match media duties.
The players spoke in similar tones as their manager. Crisis?
What crisis? They are all firmly of the belief that Scotland will come good come June.
‘We’ve got a few things that we can definitely work on going into the Euros but, when it rolls around, I’m sure that everyone will be ready,’ said Ryan Christie.
‘One hundred per cent, the belief is still there. The good thing is that these games didn’t really mean anything. It’s not like we were going into a play-off game on Tuesday night.
‘It’s obviously frustrating and not the camp we wanted. We knew the Netherlands would be a tough game but we were desperate to get a win on the board on Tuesday night.
‘It wasn’t to be but we’ve got two more friendlies before the Euros and, hopefully, we can bounce back and get on a winning streak again going into the tournament.
‘It was obviously frustrating because of the scoreline on Tuesday night. For the most part, we dominated possession but they made it very difficult to create chances or get in behind.
‘As soon as we meet up in June, I’m sure that’s something we will be working on. We’ll be coming up with new ideas and ways to break teams down.
‘Obviously it will be a bit different at the Euros — I can’t imagine many teams playing against us like that, to be fair. But we need to be getting on the scoresheet.’
Shortly after the fans had funnelled out of Hampden, the final line-up for Euro 2024 was confirmed when the play-off matches reached their conclusion.
Poland, Georgia and Ukraine all triumphed as the last three nations to qualify, whereas Scotland were one of the first to do so last October.
But having marched so confidently towards qualification, Scotland are now limping towards the tournament itself.
Their current run represents the worst form of any of the 24 teams who will be playing at the Euros this summer.
There’s never a good time to lose form and confidence, but three months before a major finals feels particularly hard to stomach.
Over these past few days, Germany have beaten both France and the Netherlands. Ominously, they are finding their feet, whilst the opposite is true of a Scotland team stumbling badly.
After coasting to the finish line in the qualifying campaign, Scotland have yet to re-engage anything even remotely close to
We’ve got a few things we can definitely work on before the Euros start
top gear in the games that have followed.
More than anything, this is now a crisis of confidence. Their performance against Northern Ireland was flat and lacked creativity.
Defeats to the European superpowers such as France and the Dutch were excusable. Losing at home to Northern Ireland? Alarming. Very alarming, indeed.
Previously such a well-drilled and organised unit, Scotland have shipped 19 goals in seven games. The defence has more holes than an SNP election manifesto.
At the other end, it all feels like a bit of a struggle. The sense of freedom and fun that fuelled the qualifying campaign has gone.
Lawrence Shankland looks like Scotland’s best bet for a goal right now. But the smart money still has Che Adams starting in Munich on opening night.
With what feels like an indecent sense of haste, Scotland have somehow managed to pluck rain clouds from a clear blue sky.
The gloom will lift when they land in Germany. The nation will be in party mode once again, but only then will we truly know what damage has been done during this run of results.
‘I said it after the Netherlands game — the gaffer is good at keeping us level through the highs and lows of it all,’ said Christie.
‘It’s not like we got battered against Northern Ireland. We didn’t create enough chances, or as many as we should, especially at home.
‘We need to have a bit of perspective, hopefully get two wins going into the Euros and everyone is buzzing for that.
‘After the qualification route that we’ve just had, I can’t remember the last time we had a bad night at Hampden. It’s been amazing over the last few years.
‘But we go into the summer still full of confidence and hopefully in the send-off game at Hampden we can put a good performance and result together.’
With Gibraltar up next, Scotland will end their winless run. Of course they will. Anything else would be utterly unthinkable.
They should also beat Finland at Hampden in the final warm-up, before the fans give them what will no doubt be a rousing send-off.
But, given their current run of form, a lot of people will expect them to be one of the first teams to be saying Auf Wiedersehen to the Euros in the summer. Only they can change that.
GOALKEEPERS
JOHN McGARRY: Angus Gunn didn’t cover himself in glory for the Netherlands’ opener but he is clearly still the first choice. It was curious that Clarke didn’t expose Craig Gordon to any action over the two games, given he admitted that assessing the form of his keepers was ‘difficult to gauge’.
Nonetheless, if Gunn was unavailable, 41-year-old Gordon would seem the most likely deputy at this moment — even if he only remains Hearts’ Scottish Cup goalkeeper.
There’s so little to separate Zander Clark from Liam Kelly. Clark probably just makes it due to having a couple more caps and three years more experience than the Motherwell man.
CALUM CROWE: The romantics among the Scotland support would love to see Craig Gordon back in the team and starting in the Euros. But it’s hard to make a case for that happening when he’s not playing regularly for Hearts. The only way I could see it happening would be if Zander Clark was to pick up an injury from now until the end of the season, giving Gordon a chance to prove his form.
Gunn is the man in possession of the jersey and has a fair bit of credit in the bank. But that has dwindled slightly with mistakes against Holland and Northern Ireland. His distribution, in particular, is a concern. He put the whole team under pressure in the build-up to Holland’s second goal in Amsterdam, as well as Northern Ireland’s goal on Tuesday night. But I expect Gunn, Gordon and Zander Clark to be the three keepers on the plane.
DEFENDERS
JM: Clarke likes Grant Hanley. He’s not been able to select him since the win over Spain a year ago and will hope the latest injury which led to his withdrawal from the squad isn’t too serious. Given Scotland’s recent record, 19 goals lost in seven games, he could do with him.
Kieran Tierney is nailed on, Jack Hendry isn’t far off that, Ryan Porteous and Scott McKenna are also high up in Clarke’s pecking
order. That probably leaves Liam Cooper and John Souttar in a fight to become the sixth central defender. The Leeds man will just edge it.
Tierney’s versatility offers cover for Andy Robertson at left wing-back. That spells bad news for Greg Taylor.
Aaron Hickey’s return to training with Brentford next month will not come a minute too soon. Nathan Patterson’s confidence looked shot on Tuesday. He badly needs a run of games at Everton to get his mojo back or else Anthony Ralston displaces him.
CC: The situation with Hanley is now becoming a major concern. He hasn’t played for Scotland since that Spain game. Plagued by injuries, he had to pull out of the squad to face Holland and Northern Ireland and has only played nine times for Norwich this season.
Clarke now has to plan for the prospect of the 32-year-old not being fit, or certainly not being match-sharp, for the Euros. That would leave a back three of Tierney, Hendry, plus one other. Porteous has emerged as an international player under Clarke and would probably just edge it ahead of McKenna and Cooper.
Patterson had a shocker against Northern Ireland and now has work to do if he’s to remain back-up to Hickey.
MIDFIELDERS
JM: Clarke has settled on a 5-4-1, with the midfield structured with two banks of two.
Given the intensity of a major tournament — three games in 10 days — you’d look to have eight players for those four positions.
Adding Callum McGregor to the seven that featured in the last squad is the easy bit.
Ryan Jack, who missed out on Euro 2020 through injury, probably needs someone to drop out to be involved this time.
Stuart Armstrong, Lewis Ferguson and Kenny McLean will be asked to impact games from the bench.
The question will be if the Celtic captain starts off there, too. If he’s selected to play one of the holding roles with Billy Gilmour, Scott McTominay would be favourite to join John McGinn further up the park — with Ryan Christie benched.
CC: This is probably the most intriguing area of the team in terms of what formula Clarke settles on. It’ll be a midfield four, essentially made up entirely of central players, operating behind a lone striker.
For me, the best balance would be Gilmour, McGregor and McTominay, with McGinn pushed further forward and given freedom to roam. Armstrong and Ferguson could make an impact off the bench.
Likewise Christie, albeit he could also play just off the front if McGinn is asked to play in one of the deeper roles. Clarke will take the seven players who were in the most recent squad, plus McGregor once he returns to fitness.
FORWARDS
JM: If Che Adams, Lyndon Dykes and Lawrence Shankland are fit then there’s no real debate about who travels.
Provided he returns from injury, Luton’s Jacob Brown would be first reserve — with Millwall’s Kevin Nisbet next in line.
Each of Clarke’s three preferred options have attributes. The worry is that finding the net in Dark Blue is not one of them. In the last nine matches, Shankland’s goal in Georgia is the only one scored by a forward.
CC: We all know it’ll be Adams, Dykes and Shankland. The only real issue is which one of them will start against the Germans.
Dykes was non-existent against Northern Ireland and hasn’t scored at club level since mid-January. So, for me, it’s a straight shoot-out between Adams and Shankland.
Adams is more mobile and his pace would be valuable on the counter. A lot of people seemed to be quick to write Shankland off on the basis of that chance he missed in Amsterdam last week, but I wouldn’t be so sure yet. His overall performance against the Netherlands was good and, importantly, he’s in form.
With 27 goals this season, there’s every chance he will win PFA Scotland Player of the Year. On that basis, it would be a big call to leave him out. Right now, he’s Scotland’s best chance of a goal.