SHAKE IT OFF AND GO AGAIN
Clarke will give his drained stars time to show they have put the emotional strain of Belgrade behind them before naming his team for Slovakia
IN normal circumstances, Steve Clarke would have his Scotland team picked and shaped up 24 hours before kick-off. Just this once, he’s happy to afford extra recovery time to a group of players who went out and made history before celebrating their Euro 2020 qualification with a suitably epic party back at the team hotel in Belgrade.
Clarke is less concerned about the damage wrought by beer and champagne than the mental and physical hangovers from Thursday night’s gripping play-off final with Serbia.
Scotland had almost completed the perfect 90-minute performance when the Serbs equalised to add 30 tense minutes of extra-time that was followed by the nerve-shredding drama of a penalty shoot-out.
This afternoon’s Nations League clash with Slovakia in Trnava does not carry quite the same urgency but there is a very palpable prize at stake in the form of promotion to the top tier of UEFA’s Nations League.
Victory would see Scotland win the group with a game to spare and Clarke (below) wants to send out a team that makes the midweek assignment against Israel academic.
There are a couple of certainties. Booked in previous group matches against the Slovaks and Czech Republic, striker Lyndon Dykes is suspended for today’s game.
Captain Andy Robertson, meanwhile, is highly unlikely to play after feeling a tight hamstring following the game in Belgrade.
Opportunity is likely to knock then for Oli McBurnie in attack, while Clarke must also decide whether to ask Kieran Tierney to do the left wing-back shift or introduce the freshness of Celtic’s Greg Taylor.
‘I’m going to give them another 24 hours just to see how the knocks and niggles settle down,’ said Clarke. ‘I will speak to certain players about whether they are good to go again. Because on the back of the next game, we have another on Wednesday.
‘The biggest worry and doubt would be Andy Robertson. He actually reported in at the start of the week with a tight hamstring after the Liverpool game.
‘It was a little bit tight again after the match, so we have to be careful. We don’t want a tight hamstring to become a torn hamstring. We have to try to protect all the players as much as we can.
‘Mentally, for a lot of them it was a really tough night.
‘Listen, we have recuperated quite well. I know that the party and celebration have made a lot of headlines but because of the draining nature of the game, emotionally and physically, it actually just broke up by itself. You get to a stage in the night when you are just tired and drift off to bed.
‘The effort in the game was huge, so I’m going to have to make a few changes to the team.’
Having witnessed the smiles on his players’ faces as they conducted training in Bratislava yesterday, Clarke is more than happy with the mood in the camp.
Unfortunately, one of his coaching staff was forced to observe the session from the sidelines after being injured in some post-match horseplay.
‘I have to mention that the worst injury is actually John Carver!’ admitted a smiling Clarke.
‘Unfortunately, John has ended up on crutches, although in his defence, I have to point out that he got the injury on the pitch.
‘Somebody jumped on his back and unfortunately his calf exploded. He has a really sore one, he is hobbling around but he is putting a brave face on it.’
The absence of Dykes will leave big shoes for McBurnie to fill. It’s no stretch to suggest Clarke’s team was transformed the minute he persuaded the Gold Coast-born frontman to switch allegiances from Australia.
If even the Scotland boss has been surprised at just how seamlessly the 25-year-old has taken to international football, he has long been a fan of the striker’s work at club level.
A recent £2million purchase by Queens Park Rangers boss Mark Warburton, Dykes was on Clarke’s watchlist even before he moved to his previous club Livingston.
‘To give you a bit of background, I was aware of Lyndon at Queen of the South,’ he revealed. ‘I was at Kilmarnock and I knew Kris Boyd was coming to the end of his time.
‘If I had stayed there, Lyndon would have been a player I would have been very interested in but I have to credit Livingston because they stole a march on a few clubs that had watched him.
‘They got him on a pre-contract in the January, so congratulations to Livvy because they made a very quick and astute signing.
‘I won’t give away my methods. How I speak to people and what I did — maybe that tempted him to play for Scotland.
‘The conversation is a private one. At the time, Australia were trying to tempt him as well. It was always Lyndon’s decision to make. I think he has made the right one. Time will tell.’
Dykes’ presence has given Scotland a platform to advance off the pitch, a reliable focal point for the likes of John McGinn and Ryan Christie to buzz round and exert their influence on the game.
‘We have a lot of good midfield players with energy that can join in, the likes of Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, John McGinn, even Callum McGregor,’ added Clarke.
‘You need someone at the top of the pitch who can be the physical presence, hold the ball in and bring those players into the game.
‘I know he gets a little bit of a hard time but Oli McBurnie is similar. He probably doesn’t have the same pace as Lyndon but has similar attributes that, hopefully, we can use in the coming matches.’
Scotland seemed to lose something when Dykes, McGinn and Christie were withdrawn i n favour of McBurnie, Callum Paterson and Kenny McLean on Thursday night but Clarke senses his fringe players are ready to step up to a new level.
Armstrong, who has been excelling for Southampton this season, is a strong contender to start today, having failed to make it off the bench in Serbia.
‘Stuart was in my thoughts for the game on Thursday night, he just missed out,’ explained Clarke. ‘We had a training session this morning and I can see already that the players are playing for their places at Euro 2020.
‘It was a marvellous training session. I was really pleased with it. Sometimes after a day’s rest, it takes them a little bit of time to get up to speed but it was a really good session.
‘But everyone is in my thoughts, not just Stuart. All the ones who didn’t play the other night, they know I trust them and I know they will do their best for their country.
‘You always feel there is more to come. You always strive to improve so, yes, we can get better as a team.’
Today’ s opponents are in a strange state of flux. As Scotland were winning in Belgrade, so too were Slovakia against Northern Ireland in Belfast to secure their own spot at Euro 2020.
Yet the achievement was completed without coach Pavel Hapal, who was removed from his position after the last international window in which his team reached the play-off final by beating the Republic of Ireland on penalties, but also lost to Scotland and Israel to sit bottom of the Nations League group.
After a winning start at Windsor Park, Stefan Tarkovic finds himself
in a not dissimilar position to Clarke. ‘They put on a very good performance in Belfast,’ said Clarke.
‘They have good players, we saw that at Hampden. (Marek) Hamsik is the one to mention, a top player and catalyst for the team but maybe they will now make a few changes as well.
‘Mentally and physically, I would imagine they are pretty drained too. Let’s see what happens.’
Participants at the last Euros in 2016 and also the 2010 World Cup, qualification for the Slovaks didn’t have quite the same landmark qualities as Scotland’s success 22 years on from France 98.
Clarke allowed himself to enjoy Thursday night to a natural conclusion but insists he is now ready to resume duty.
‘I didn’t look at my phone till the next morning, so I don’t know exactly when I called it a night, but I had over 200 messages and they were still coming in,’ he continued. ‘I went to bed when I was tired, I didn’t get too much sleep and I know I didn’t look terribly good on the television the next day!
‘But I had a great sleep on Friday night — and I’m ready to go again.’