RUSSIA 4 SCOTLAND 0
Clarke: Moscow nightmare must be rock-bottom
STEVE CLARKE last night admitted Scotland’s players ran out of heart as they hit ‘rock bottom’ here in Moscow last night.
The national boss blamed a confidence crisis for a second half collapse which saw his team go KEITH JACKSON IN MOSCOW down to a 4-0 thrashing at the Luzhniki Stadium. It was another excruciating night for Clarke who has now been on the
end of savage back-toback losses to Belgium and Russia – losing eight goals without reply.
And to make it even more painful it did seem as Clarke had got his game plan right after a largely encouraging first half.
But Russia skipper Artem Dzyuba battered his way through in 56 minutes with the opener and sparked a horror second-half collapse.
Magomed Ozdoev doubled Russia’s lead on the hour with a rocket shot from 25 yards before man mountain Dzyuba poached his second goal of the night.
Then six minutes from time talisman Aleksandr Golovin hammered the final nail in Scotland’s coffin leaving Clarke licking his wounds once again after a fourth defeat in his first five games in charge. And a shattered Clarke said: “We conceded a soft goal. The first goal was soft from a corner, man on man we have to do better. “From there we quickly found our way out of the game and we allowed it to run away from us. “I have to put it down to fragile confidence. The players seemed to lose heart quickly which is unfortunate because we had done okay up to that point. “In all the games we’ve played there have been moments when you can see what we are trying to do and where we are trying to get to. “The results are dreadful, I’m not going to get away from that or hide from that. We have to do better. We have to work harder. We have to make sure as a group of people we keep improving. “We have to make sure this is the lowest of the low.”
Clarke now has three Group I games left, starting with a visit from San Marino on Sunday, to find a winning formula before the play-offs for Euro 2020 in March.
Asked how he can repair the damage done before then he said: “Hard work. Maybe one or two different selections in terms of the squad and the starting XI.
“It’s something I have to look at. We can’t keep conceding goals. You have to give a nod to the quality of the opposition we have played recently, Belgium and Russia are two very good teams who I’m sure will be involved in the latter stages of Euro 2020.
“We have to make sure this is the very bottom of the lowest and then build from here and make sure that come March we are able to be competitive and get through the play-offs and give ourselves the chance to be in the same championship.”
Asked if the job is bigger than he realised Clarke nodded: “On the back of two 4-0 defeats it feels difficult but I was brought up the hard way.
“I’m in for the fight and I believe the players are in for the fight too.”
Russia boss Stanislav Cherchesov said: “I talked to the players at the break. I was telling them that in midfield we shouldn’t pass too much, just send the ball to the area where there is danger.
“Scotland weren’t solid at the back and that’s why we went deeper. After we scored with a set-piece we clearly had an advantage.
“What we need to do now is assess our performance tonight and help the players recover because they worked hard. We play for our national flag so we have to be ready.”