Tartan Army are starved of glory.. we have to give them a feast at Hampden
Clarke wants his players to show their hunger for success is back
SO now for the Moldovan meat in Steve Clarke’s World Cup sandwich. The tasty filling wedged between two doorstopper ties which always had the potential of asking Scotland’s players to bite off more than they’re ready to chew. Defeat in Denmark on Wednesday has left a bad taste in the mouth. Even if Clarke and his ravaged squad would have been long shots in the first place, it was the manager’s wonky game plan and the manner of that chaotic first-half performance that has done so much to dampen the nation’s spirits. But it’s not too late for Clarke to relight the fire that burned earlier this summer, when he led the country to a first major finals in 23 years. He can start by making light work of the Group F whipping boys tonight and whetting the appetite of the Tartan Army who will be returning to Hampden in their numbers looking for something worth getting their teeth into. Then back it up emphatically in Vienna on Tuesday night when anything less than a win against Austria is likely to leave Scotland looking on from the outside again as the rest of the world gets together to feast on Qatar 2020. While three points tonight won’t be enough to prove Clarke and his players have suddenly rediscovered their stomachs, a victory over Moldova will at least provide some badly needed momentum, bookending a miserable run of nine competitive games and only one win.
And with the National Stadium taking the remaining padlocks off, Clarke appears to realise the need for his team to put on a show.
He said: “All the players, coaching staff and myself look forward to having the backing of the Tartan Army.
“Hopefully we can get a fast start in the game, start on the front foot and get them right behind the team, as they can make a difference.
“The players enjoy the intensity of the crowd. Even going to Denmark the other night there was a fantastic atmosphere inside the stadium. Players enjoy that.
“Big players enjoy playing in front of a crowd and showing what they can do.
“They enjoy showing off, if you like. They want to show everyone how good they are - so hopefully we can produce a performance for the Tartan Army on Saturday.”
There will be no hiding place should Scotland fail to deliver. That much seems certain following the headscratching that has gone on ever since Clarke sent out such a curiously-constructed starting XI in Copenhagen.
Now the onus is weighing on him to get both selection and strategy spot on. And on the players chosen to carry out his orders to the letter.
Asked what he took away from Wednesday night’s Danish pasting Clarke said: “That we need to do better, start better and deal with the intensity of the opposition better. But I move on to the next game as that’s more important than the last game.
‘We need a win to get ourselves moving again in the group and that’s all we focus on.”
The gnawing fear will be that Moldova prove more than a comfortable mouthful, despite their woeful record at this level. The Danes took eight off them at the start of this campaign and Israel hit them for four. But it was down to just two in Austria on Wednesday.
“If this pattern continues Scotland will have to settle for a 1-0 win tonight. And that could be a hard one to swallow.
Clarke added: “Listen, we know by and large they will sit in and be difficult to break down but it’s our job to move the ball quickly.
In the training sessions we are working on one or two touch passing and moving the ball quickly and trying to create space.
“But we know they will be dogged. They were dogged the other night against Austria, they took until 45 minutes to get the first goal and 96 minutes to get the second, so we know they’ll be dogged.
“It’s up to us to break the resilience and dominate the ball, pass the ball well and pass it quickly and create chances to get the crowd on board, get the crowd with us, and hopefully a good performance and a good three points.”
What’s required then is a sharp, aggressive, purposeful Scotland performance played at a high tempo and with plenty of menace. It’s been a while.
But Clarke said: “I think it’s something that we’re reasonably good at – passing the ball and also keeping the ball.
“We’re usually comfortable in possession but for 15 to 20 minutes the other night we didn’t look comfortable in possession.
“Don’t forget the opposition. You have to credit the opposition – they are a pretty good team the Danes and they got about us and made it tough for us.
“But we can learn lessons from that. Hopefully we’ll have the ball from the start on Saturday and we can move it quickly and we can cause Moldova a few problems.
“The first thing we have to do is get the three points against Moldova. “We concentrate only on that. We don’t look too far ahead or too much at the group table, or the table just now.
“There are other games that can be pivotal in the group but we can’t affect that at all. “We can only affect our performance against Moldova. That’s all we are concentrating on.”
One bite at a time seems like a sensible approach.
If Clarke can manage to polish these next two off then Scotland might not be chewed up and spat out by this campaign just yet.