KEEP YOUR McGINN UP
Clarke urges Scott to follow John’s lead
STEVE CLARKE hopes Scott McKenna takes inspiration from John McGinn as he tries to carve out an international future.
The young Aberdeen defender copped flak for the part he played in Kazakhstan’s goal before Scotland fought back to win 3-1 at Hampden on Tuesday.
But Scots boss Clarke believes that making mistakes is all part of the learning curve on the international stage.
He insists McKenna needs look no further than McGinn, whose seven goals in the last six Scotland games have seen the Aston Villa midfielder emerge as our main man ahead of March’s play-offs.
McGinn toiled early in his Scotland career but is now firing on all cylinders and Clarke is convinced McKenna, with 13 caps, can do the same.
He said: “Listen, Scott is a young central defender finding his way in international football, as is Declan Gallagher.
“They make little mistakes and it was a little mistake that was heavily punished.
“But that’s what happens at this level, that’s what I explained to them at halftime. The good thing for me was they listened to what I said at halftime and in the second half they stepped into the game.
“It allows us to then free the attacking players to go and do what they do best.
“In the second half I was delighted with my two central defenders as well because they stepped up on to the game.
“We knew we had to force the game against a team with a threat on the counter- attack.
“We had to risk a bit at the back and I thought the two centre-backs were good stepping in, closing the game and allowing us to keep the pressure on, which then allows the front players to go and express themselves.
“At this moment Scott is a good young prospect. He is picking up games all the time for Aberdeen in the Premiership. He has got a lot of clubs who have looked at him, maybe there will be a bit of interest in him.
“But I am not going to talk about or try and sell
Derek McInnes’ players. He will be on the phone straight away!
“The biggest thing for Scott is to keep developing and keep working, even if he makes small mistakes like he did in the first half.
“International football is a different level. It took John McGinn a long time to find out the level.
“The little tweak in John’s position, which came from Aston Villa who stuck him a little bit higher up the pitch, has made a difference.
“We have utilised it as well. As well as giving us a threat attacking-wise with John arriving in the box, which he is very good at, it also gives us a good high-press at times.”
Clarke was satisfied with the way Scotland ended their qualifying campaign, racking up three straight wins over San Marino, Cyprus and Kazakhstan after hidings from Belgium and Russia.
He has to wait four months to get his hands on the squad again but admitted he can’t wait for the play-off semi-final against Israel, Bulgaria, Hungary or Romania.
Clarke added: “We know the first game will be at Hampden. So we make sure we are properly prepared for that.
“It doesn’t matter where we are, at home or away, if we get to the final – we have to win.
“We have to win the first game, have to get to the second game and then deal with what we get in the second game.”