Clarke’s reign under scrutiny for first time

THERE is suddenly a very different complexion to Scotland’s Nations League match against Armenia in Yerevan tomorrow evening. The 92nd-ranked side in the world were swept aside at Hampden Park last Wednesday in a 2-0 win that could and should have been by a greater margin.

But that was then and this is now. Saturday’s defeat at the hands of the Republic of Ireland in Dublin was embarrassing and it’s not overstating the case to say that Steve Clarke is facing the first real examination of his reign.

At the time of the 3-1 World

Cup play-off defeat by Ukraine it

felt understandable given the background to the fixture – the visitors were playing in hugely emotional circumstances and are no slouches in the international arena having reached the quarterfinals of last summer’s European Championship.

It is only in hindsight that the result can be viewed more dispassionately, however. Many of the same failings – such as

defensive miscommunication, misplaced passes and a general malaise that looked like a combination of weariness at the end of a long season and a more worrying apathy – that were present in that World Cup play-off defeat were again on show against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.

But here the quality of the opponents did not provide the same excuses for Clarke. Ireland came into the fixture off the back of a miserable run of form having lost their previous game to a second-string Ukraine with their own manager Stephen Kenny in the midst of a full-blown crisis. Indeed,

so badly had they been performing that that midweek defeat to Oleksandr Petrakov’s side was their 12th successive Nations League game without a win.

But that shocking run was halted against Scotland. Shane Duffy, a player who struggled badly at Celtic last season, was made to look every inch the superior international defender to Scott McKenna, Grant Hanley and Jack Hendry. Meanwhile,

Michael Obafemi, a player who could not dislodge Che Adams

from the Southampton starting line-up and left last season to join Swansea City, ran riot and scored a superb goal.

Afterwards, Clarke said those players were at a loss to explain the nature of their defeat but the manager himself seemed similarly confused about what to do to

provoke a response from his team. That has got to be a major concern for the Scotland manager going

forward.