CLARKE’S ‘DON’T PANIC’ MESSAGE
Amsterdam, the Scots have now shipped 18 in their last six games.
They haven’t won any of those and Clarke is desperate for a victory against Northern Ireland at Hampden on Tuesday night.
He understands fans’ concern over a dip in form just 12 weeks before our Euro 2024 opener against Germany in Munich.
But the manager is convinced he’ll get his players back on track before the tournament kicks off.
Clarke said: “I won’t panic. We don’t need panic. We just have to strive to be better and hopefully we’ll give everyone a better night on Tuesday than Friday.
“I won’t over-react to the result. That’s why I didn’t speak to the players much after the game. We’ll look at it rationally and calmly. You can’t hide from a 4-0 defeat and people who want to take a negative viewpoint can do so with some justification because of the scoreline.
“But there were so many good things within that performance.
“We have to build on the good things rather than worry too much about the bad things.
“Of course we’ll address the bad parts, the bad goals, because they were really poor. But it was a strange game. We need to analyse it and work it out.
“The negative is the 4-0. It’s a spanking and it was a sore one.
“The lads and myself were hurting. But we’ll recover from it by looking at what we did well.
“What do I want to see in our next game? I just want to win, it’s simple. I want to stop this run of no wins.”
Clarke had originally planned to ring the changes against Northern Ireland after a positive display at the Johan Cruyff Arena. But in the wake of a drubbing he’s set for a rethink.
The Scotland boss admitted he got it wrong by hooking man of the match Billy Gilmour, who was running the game.
Clarke said: “I took Billy off and it was harsh because that was his best game for Scotland.
“He was outstanding. I took him off because I wanted to freshen it up and give Lewis Ferguson time on the pitch.
“But before the subs had a chance to bed in, it was 2-0 and it suddenly became a long night.
“But it was Billy’s best performance for us. Wearing the No.14 shirt in the Johan Cruyff Arena, that was nice.
“It just shows the regular football he’s getting at Brighton in the Premier League is pushing him on. He’s getting better and better. But we’ve always said that about Billy.
“He’s one for the future – but he’s also one for now. He’s a really good player.
“Billy is an integral part of the squad and it’s up to me to pick the right players to get results.
“People will say I didn’t do that on Friday but I’d say the team was very good for 70 minutes.
“Will I play my strongest team on Tuesday? I’ll need to think about that one now. I had an idea but I’ve had to sleep on it.
“Whatever team I pick should win the game – that’s how I feel.
“We keep saying we have good strength in depth so whether I make five or six changes or just one or two, we’ll still look to win.”
Scotland passed up several gilt-edged opportunities to score against Ronald Koeman’s side.
Lawrence Shankland – who was given the nod to start – missed a glorious chance to make it 1-1 in the second half.
While the Scots have problems at the back, Clarke is adamant his players WILL find their shooting boots.
He said: “There are goals in this team, for sure. We created a lot of chances on Friday and another night maybe we score one or two of them.
“I don’t have to pick Lawrence up. Why? He’s a striker and they miss more chances than they score. He’ll recover from it and I thought he did well in the game.”
Clarke sprung a surprise on Friday night with his high-line approach against the Dutch.
The Scots’ pressing game was successful for 70 minutes before their defensive capitulation.
But the manager insists that WON’T put him off deploying that tactic again. He said: “We wanted to move forward and have the ball higher up.
“Sometimes against the better teams we play a low block, sit in and let them play in front of us before countering from there.
“But we must do better against these teams so we tried to force the Netherlands back, win the ball higher and get chances to score.
“I want us to get better and commit to the game against these top sides.”