Boss banking on high-energy style to cause rivals problems

FROM kick-off Scotland’s intent was apparent. A diagonal from Liam Cooper sent the ball arrowing out deep into the Dutch half and a swarm of light-blue jerseys descended on their opponents and pinched the ball back from the throw.

That high-tempo harrying barely let up and delivered the first goal as Stuart Armstrong helped Jack Hendry nick possession and stride forward to net his first international goal.

And Andy Robertson’s determination to burst beyond Ryan Christie and deliver a penalty-box cross for Kevin Nisbet’s maiden strike at the end of a move initiated by a headed clearance out of his own area demonstrated not only his superior lung capacity but the general vitality of this team as it enters Euro 2020.

‘It’s a sign that the team and the squad is improving,’ observes national coach Steve Clarke. ‘You are always trying to tweak and do things a little bit different. And we want to be competitive in the tournament.’

Scotland have not been at a major tournament since France 98, a competition where the team played like underdogs. Going into a tricky yet not daunting section against the Czech Republic, England and Croatia, Clarke wants his players to perform with more aggression — and not in the rawest physical sense.

He continued: ‘If we can repeat it, the way we played the other night will give us a chance to be competitive.

‘You always have to respect the quality of the opposition. We will go into the group as the fourth seeds, not expected to finish anywhere except bottom of the section.

‘But we have to go in with our mentality, and that is to get as many good performances as we can, three hopefully that will get us enough points to get out of the group.

‘We can’t be worrying too much about what has happened at previous tournaments. We can only affect the here and now, not what happened in the past.’

Clarke will use this afternoon’s final warm-up match against Luxembourg to give game time to those squad players denied involvement in the Dutch match due to precautions taken following John Fleck’s positive Covid test. While Fleck remains in isolation at the team’s erstwhile training base in Spain, David Marshall, Grant Hanley, John McGinn, Che Adams, Nathan Patterson and Stephen O’Donnell are all set to feature this evening.

‘I’m going to sit with the staff tonight, get some of the sports science boys in too, and have a little chat,’ said Clarke before departure for Luxembourg yesterday afternoon. ‘There are some players who definitely need minutes and I will give you Grant Hanley as an example.

‘He finished his season with Norwich on May 8th, so he needs the game. Scott McKenna would be similar, he got some minutes the other night but it would be nice to get him some more.

‘I obviously want a performance too. I want to look at one or two things for the tournament, one or two little combinations.

‘So it’s about getting the balance and the team right. We want to win the game, we want to go into the tournament with a good feeling.’

While Kieran Tierney is certain to start on the left against the Czechs, the precise make up of Clarke’s preferred back three is yet to be revealed.

Handed the No 5 squad number, on the back of a season in which he captained Norwich City to the Championship title, Hanley could play centrally or challenge Hendry for the berth on the right.

‘Scott McKenna could play on the right of a three too,’ counters Clarke (below). ‘I’m not averse to playing a leftie on the right.

‘Everyone seems to get hung up about that but I was a right-footed player and played my first full season at St Mirren at left-back.

‘Really, I just want to get minutes into all of the centre-backs’ legs ahead of the tournament.

‘Whichever the combination, I know we are improving in that system and I want to get them all a little shot and a feel of being on the pitch. Hopefully we can replicate the way we played the other night.

‘I’m going to keep an open mind over the next few days. I’m not going to tie things down in terms of: “This is the way I’m going to go”.

‘This camp has been a bit of an eye-opener in terms of how good they have been.

‘The quality of the training has been outstanding. Everyone here has done himself a favour. ‘Nobody has trained their way out of contention, that’s for sure. It has been a pleasure to be the head coach and watch these training sessions.

‘I think you saw a bit of that in the Holland performance and hopefully you’ll see a bit more against Luxembourg.’