COMMITMENT IS CRUCIAL
Clarke takes veiled swipe at the absent Fraser by praising dedication of Dykes
THERE was nothing to be gained from Lyndon Dykes flying to Moldova to act as a Scotland
cheerleader. The QPR striker is on the way back from injury, recently he has felt the effects of a mild virus. Suspended for tonight’s key World Cup qualifier in Chisinau, he couldn’t have continued his run of four goals in four games anyway.
Yet, when Steve Clarke made all these facts known yesterday, he was making a point. Dykes — unlike others — was prepared to make the effort
On Wednesday, Sportsmail revealed how Ryan Fraser had trained with Newcastle 48 hours after he pulled out of the squad for the games against Moldova and Denmark.
Apologists for the winger were quick to jump to his defence. There’s a world of difference between being fit enough to do some light training with a club and being fit enough to play in a World Cup qualifier.
But while Dykes was offering to put himself out there in support of his international team-mates when he felt under the weather, Fraser’s sole focus was on his own narrow club interests at the expense of a national team heading into a critical match. Clarke, it’s fair to say, was unimpressed.
Asked about Fraser, the Scotland boss said pointedly: ‘The best way to answer that one is to say I have a squad of players who want to be here. They’re all here, so let’s talk about those boys.
‘The situation with Ryan will resolve itself in time.
‘Listen, it is what it is. This is not the time to talk about somebody who is not in the squad.
‘We have built a really strong squad. I had to persuade Lyndon Dykes it was a bad idea to fly to Moldova!
‘He’s not with us just now, suspended for the Moldova game. He’s also had a little virus and had a little knock after his last game.
‘But he phoned us up and said he wanted to fly to Moldova just to watch the game.
‘He was prepared to get on a plane for three hours to watch the team and then fly back with the team to Edinburgh. But I managed to persuade him he didn’t need to do that.
‘With the game on Monday (against Denmark), that wasn’t such a good idea. ‘But it shows you the level of commitment I have got from the boys in the squad. That’s what we’re building and I’d rather talk about those people.’ Speak to anyone around Clarke’s Scotland set-up and they’ll tell you the unity and togetherness are valuable commodities. Spend any time at all around the hotel foyer of an international squad and cliques based on club alliances are not unusual. A manager who puts the emphasis on the ‘we’ rather than ‘I’, Clarke has tried to change all that. As the post-match scenes from Serbia last November showed, this is a national team which ribs along just fine. And by looking after contrary No to 1, the Fraser’s ethos under actions which are Clarke operates. That’s why there were no words of sympathy yesterday, no attempt to douse a burning bridge. Where the former Aberdeen player is concerned, it looks like a long way back. ‘Commitment is massive for us,’ added Clarke. ‘It’s why, when you need to score a late goal, that spirit and togetherness is there. That’s when it shines through. That’s when you see it, when we get a result that could have gone the other way. ‘When it’s maybe looking like it’s heading for a draw and we get the win. ‘You turn draws into wins because of the team spirit and the feeling among this group of players. That’s vitally important to us and what we’re trying to do.’ Victory over Moldova is an attainable goal with or without Fraser. The group’s bottom dogs have mustered one point from eight games, scoring only four goals. Despite a narrow 1-0 win at Hampden last time they played, Scotland now find themselves in a scenario where three points against the also-rans will guarantee second place behind Denmark and a place in the play-offs for Qatar next year. ‘We have proved this group has a mentality where they don’t want to drop silly points,’ added Clarke. ‘Okay, we left it late against Israel and the Faroes. But we got the job done and, if we have to leave it late against Moldova before we secure the points that we need, then that’s what this group will do.’
With Scotland, there’s always the element of doubt. In October 2007, Alex McLeish took the national team to Georgia knowing three points against a weakened team with a couple of 17-year-olds in the starting line-up would greatly enhance hopes of reaching the Euro 2008 finals.
The Scots lost 2-0 and, to fans of a certain age, there’s a fatalism around these situations. A doom-laden expectation that the national team will somehow find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of triumph.
Citing his own team’s qualification for Euro 2020, Clarke said: ‘We haven’t done it. I know it’s something historical, but it’s not connected with this team.
‘We went to the Faroes and it was a tough game but we managed to get the result we wanted.
‘We managed to avoid that tag there, so hopefully we come out of this game and we’re all in a good place.
‘And we’re all looking forward to the play-offs in March. Ultimately, that’s the aim.
‘From within, we know we are improving. I’ve spoken consistently over the last 12 months about seeing improvement in this group of players.
‘If we can do something tangible — and finishing second in the group would be a tangible, measurable achievement — then other people can decide whether it is success.’