CLARKE STRIKES PERFECT NOTE
Timely recruitment of Adams and Dykes has made the world of difference to Scotland
THERE is no transfer market in international football but that hasn’t stopped Steve Clarke putting recruitment at the heart of his team-building mission. Lucky enough to inherit the most talented pool of Scotland players in at least a generation, the manager has nevertheless had to import a new set of strikers in order to take the country to the brink of the World Cup finals.
Without the goals of Lyndon Dykes and the pacey intelligence of Che Adams it’s unlikely the national team would be preparing to face Ukraine — and possibly Wales — in the play-offs over the course of the coming week.
Appointed three years ago, Clarke knew he was inheriting a group overloaded with fine midfield players and two elite-level leftbacks. Problems, however, persisted in defence and attack.
Defensively, he was able to work internally, switching to a back three and pulling Manchester United’s Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney in on either side of a natural stopper such as Grant Hanley or Liam Cooper. As any top-level coach will attest, it’s much harder to exploit versatility at the other end of the pitch.
Clarke spent his first year in charge trying to get a tune out of contenders like Oli McBurnie, Leigh Griffiths, Lawrence Shankland and Callum Paterson.
Eventually he decided to make representations to the Australiaborn Lyndon Dykes, at that stage on the cusp of a transfer from Livingston to Queens Park Rangers.
The pitch to Adams had to wait until qualification for Euro 2020 had been confirmed but the Southampton forward — eligible through his maternal grandmother — has been a willing conscript.
‘These lads wanted to come and play for Scotland,’ says Clarke. ‘That is the first thing. You can’t go and sign these players, so you have to scout well. You have to know who is available to play for Scotland.
‘Obviously Lyndon had the choice. He wasn’t born here, he was born in Australia but I think the fact both his parents and his partner were from Scotland, and his child was born in Scotland, all dragged him back towards us a little bit.
‘Big Dyksey has scored some very important goals for us.’
Although Dykes has been more prolific in World Cup qualifying with four goals to Adams’ two, the latter has brought a new power and thrust to the Scotland attack, best illustrated on the night he bullied a hitherto unbeaten Danish defence into submission in a 2-0 win that closed out the group section in Glasgow.
The Leicester-born Adams was first approached by the SFA in 2017 but chose to stick with England, who he represented at Under-20 level.
In late 2020, Clarke saw an opportunity to have another go for the 25-year-old.
‘Che was slightly different in that, quite rightly, he felt as though he had the talent to get involved with England when he was younger,’ he explains. ‘He wanted to see how that panned out and then I think we just got the timing right.
‘We moved at the right time because he wanted to play international football, wanted to play on that bigger stage and finally he chose to come and play for us.
‘Getting those two on board has certainly made us better because we were a little bit short in the striking department.’
Dykes and Adams were key contributors to the six-game winning run that has carried Scotland into the play-offs for Qatar 2022 and it’s not inconceivable that the manager will start both in what promises to be a charged fixture against the Ukrainians at Hampden on Wednesday.
In reserve will be Stoke City’s Jacob Brown, another find from south of the border but barely seen in a dark-blue jersey to this point.
Clarke continues: ‘The Tartan Army have not seen much of young Jacob yet but he had a fantastic year in the Championship with a Stoke team that was mid-table. They were not a prolific team, yet he scored 14 goals with a few assists, which is a good season. So I think that department is looking good.
‘It is obviously me who goes out to have the conversation with the players and I’m always very honest with them. I lay down where I see them being in the squad.
‘Don’t forget we had Oli McBurnie, Callum Paterson, Leigh Griffiths when we went to Serbia, as well as Lyndon, who was on board by that time. Without their success it could have become a bit more difficult to get these lads on board.
‘I have added Ross Stewart as well. He is a Scottish boy and a late developer. He will come into the camp on a high because he has just scored the clinching goal to get Sunderland back into the Championship.’ With the striking department well stocked, Clarke’s next task might be to try to unearth a new goalkeeper.
Just crowned the SFWA Player of the Year after a fine season at Hearts, Craig Gordon remains a reliable top-level operator and will start on Wednesday night.
At 39, he is closing in on retirement and his back-up, David Marshall, is only two years younger. Zander Clark (29) and Liam Kelly (26) have been promoted to the squad but the fact neither has been capped is indicative of how wide Clarke and his staff view the gulf to the experienced men in situ.
Just as Adams was eager to commit ahead of the Euros last year, qualification for the World Cup would naturally make Scotland more appealing to a number of players out there, some of whom may not be obviously eligible to play for the country.
‘The more successful you are the more people will want to come and play for you,’ says Clarke (below). ‘Let’s not look too far forward. I think we have a really good current squad, one which is a good age.
‘Take out my golden oldie goalkeepers and you have Grant Hanley at 30, Liam Cooper at 30, Ryan Jack is 29 plus there are a couple getting to their late twenties.
‘But by and large, I think this group of players have two more tournaments in them. And if you look at the younger ones, we have promoted Nathan Patterson,
Billy Gilmour, Lewis Ferguson, David Turnbull and one or two others who are a little bit younger than the rest.
‘They can probably go for another two, three, four tournaments.
‘I don’t like beating my own drum but I think over the last three years we have progressed well as a national team.’
To get to the Euros, Scotland had to grind their way through play-off games against Israel and Serbia. Both contests were won on penalty kicks in empty stadiums and Clarke’s players will be prepared for that eventuality again. Spot-kick preparation will fall under the remit of coach Austin MacPhee, the latest addition to Clarke’s backroom staff. Poached from Northern Ireland’s set-up, where he worked effectively under Michael O’Neill, MacPhee also handles set-piece drills for Aston Villa. ‘Setplays can be the
difference between two good teams,’ says Clarke. ‘You certainly don’t want to lose a game on a set-play and it’s always nice when you win one. You think back to the Israel game, a last-minute set-play won us the game 3-2.
‘It’s why I addressed it after the Euros. I always analyse myself, my squad and my staff and look for a way to improve. We weren’t really bad at defending set-plays and we weren’t fantastically good at scoring off them either. We were okay.
‘I just felt if I could get someone in over the course of a group campaign, then you might get two or three extra points by defending them well and maybe nicking a goal.
‘Since Austin has come in, our set-plays for and against have improved.’
Ultimately, if Scotland qualify for Qatar they will want to do better than they fared in last summer’s European Championship.
Home advantage counted for little as Clarke’s side were beaten by the Czech Republic and Croatia, the team reserving its best performance for the game against England at Wembley.
Gareth Southgate’s men have again been drawn in the same section for the first ever November -December World Cup and, with Iran and the USA completing the section, Scotland should be aiming high. Clarke knows that Ukraine and Wales, who will host the winners of Wednesday’s match in Cardiff next Sunday, will be feeling the same.
‘First thing is to concentrate on the play-off games,’ warns Clarke. ‘By their very nature, they tend to be quite cautious affairs.
‘Neither game against Israel or Serbia was a classic but our experience will be important.
‘If and when we get to Qatar we can then try to improve on what we did in the Euros.’