LIFT THE GLOOM
Clarke wants side to blunt Belgium and cheer up fans
STEVE CLARKE has promised he and his players will do everything to try to shift the gloom overshadowing Scotland when confronted by the top-ranked team in world football at Hampden tomorrow night.
Reporting his squad to be ‘very flat’ on Saturday morning following the 2-1 defeat to dominant Russia, Clarke set about the task of recapturing spirit and momentum within the ranks before Belgium’s visit.
Roberto Martinez’s superstars recorded two comfortable victories over Scotland last season — 4-0 in a Glasgow friendly when Alex McLeish’s men warmed up for the Nations League qualifiers last September then 3-0 in Brussels in June.
That was one of five successes out of five in Group I that sees Belgium blazing a trail to Euro 2020, with Scotland six points off the qualifying pace.
Defeat to the Belgians and a home win for Russia over Kazakhstan will all but confirm that Scotland are out of contention for the
Finals via the group, leaving them to concentrate on the last-chance Nations League play-offs in March.
With that realistically the 2020 hope — and the Tartan Army well aware of it — Clarke admitted that his Scotland staff have a job on to stir positivity within the support in the five competitive games left to play before the end of the year.
‘We have to lift the apathy, it is not going to lift itself,’ said Clarke. ‘As a collective, me, the coaching staff and the players have to give the fans something to make them want to be at our games again.
‘We will need to try and get something out of the Belgium game, which will be difficult. The crowd will only come if we give them something to shout about. The crowd might be a lesser one on Monday but, if we can get a good result, then maybe the next time we will get a few more.
‘We have to give the supporters a sign that we’re going to be a good team in the future. You read things and speak to people, and the sense you get is that people become resigned to not qualifying.
‘I think the attitude is “typical Scotland” because we gave people hope on Friday. We started well. Then went in front. At that stage, people were probably thinking: “We might do all right here”. Then suddenly the game runs away.
‘I can imagine people just thinking: “Not again!” So we have to change that. And the only way to do it is to get a big win. I spoke about it before the Russia game and now we have to have another go at getting one on Monday.
‘Can we do it? Why not? We have to try. I believe we can do it and we all have to go into the game believing we can do it. You are never going to erase all the disappointment because that was a pivotal game in the group.
‘But we have a chance to go away from the camp in a more positive frame of mind and looking forward to the two games next month.
‘It is our job to try and pick them up and make sure we have a good go on Monday, try and show everybody that we are as good as we think we are. We think we have enough good players in the squad, we think we should be more competitive in the group. At the moment, the points tally doesn’t lie. We are where we are.’
Clarke reported Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack a major doubt with knee swelling, potentially ruling him out of the manager’s plans to introduce a more protective figure into the middle of the park.
That job could fall to Kenny McLean, introduced for James Forrest midway through the second half on Friday and one of Scotland’s top performers against Belgium in the summer friendly.
‘The midfielders are all good footballers but we need to find someone in there with a bit more defensive nous,’ Clarke said. ‘When Kenny went on, it helped and suited the midfield quite well — and that is something I will have to think about in the future. We need to find a formula that gets us the best players on the pitch and the best way of playing.’
Belgium sauntered to a 4-0 triumph in San Marino, ominously without Clarke’s former West Brom striker Romelu Lukaku. Inter Milan’s new forward remained rested on the bench as a Michy Batshuayi double and substitute strikes from Nacer Chadli and Dries Mertens eased the World Cup semi-finalists to a bloodless success.
‘I won’t pay too much attention to Belgium’s game, although I’ve had a quick look at Roberto’s team,’ said Clarke. ‘He has got a few injury problems but he has some great options ready to come in.
‘I will look at our game against them in June again because I think I will reference that more. If you remember back to that, for 44 or 45 minutes we defended very well.’