After a brutal conclusion to Friday night’s friendly loss to the Netherlands, Steve Clarke has attempted to highlight the positives as the team’s long-term quest for victory moves on to Tuesday night’s match against Northern Ireland.
The Scotland boss stated that defeating Michael O’Neill’s squad, who provide the next opportunity to end a losing streak that now stands at six games, is non-negotiable. “It’s easy for me to win the next game,” Clarke remarked. “Winning is what I want.” All I want is to succeed. I want to end the losing streak.
He knew, realistically, that the response to the 4-0 loss in Amsterdam would center on the team’s late collapse in the face of numerous substitutes. He declared, “The negative is 4-0. A spanking is what it is. It hurt. Both the guys and I are in pain. The employees are in pain. But we’ll bounce back.
Billy Gilmour, who put on another maturing display in the Netherlands that Clarke praised as the midfielder’s best in a Scotland uniform, will be the focal point of the comeback effort. Considering how well he performed against England in his first competitive match during the Euro 2020 finals, the manager’s praise was quite commendable.
Given that Gilmour was sporting the No. 14 shirt made famous by the Dutch icon, it seemed appropriate that his most recent breathtaking performance would take place at the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Yes, that’s nice, Clarke said. It simply demonstrates how hard he is being pushed by the regular football he plays for Brighton in the English Premier League. He is becoming increasingly proficient. That’s what we’ve always said about Billy. He is one for the present as well as the future. He plays the game well. He demonstrated that.
Gilmour is clearly benefitting from regular playing time. Friday was his 42nd appearance for club and country this season, which is already a career best total for the 22-year-old.
Clarke revealed he would not have opted to take Gilmour off after 69 minutes had the match been a competitive fixture. The manager explained that he wanted to take another look at Lewis Ferguson, who is excelling in Serie A with Bologna. Scotland seemed to fall apart in both Gilmour and left centre-half Kieran Tierney’s absence, who was replaced by John Souttar a minute earlier.
Regarding Gilmour, he conceded, “That was harsh.” “I thought that was Billy’s best game for Scotland.” He played his finest game that night. Excellent. In order to inject some fresh air and give Lewis some more playing time, I took him off the field. It’s 2-0 before the substitutions had a chance to settle into the match. And it quickly turned into a lengthy night after 2-0.
He acknowledges that the chaotic ending to the game on Friday night may have changed his mind before Tuesday’s match against a youthful and inexperienced Northern Ireland team, who managed a commendable 1-1 draw in Romania while Scotland suffered a crushing loss in Amsterdam.
“I need to go away and think about that one,” he said. “I had an idea in my head. I need to go away and sleep on it. Whatever team I pick should win a game, that’s how I feel. We keep saying we have good strength in depth in the squad, so whichever team, whether I decide to make five or six changes or one or two changes, we still look to win the game.”
He acknowledged that he was attempting to outwit the Dutch as he considered how to tackle Germany in June’s opening Euro 2024 match. “We play with a little bit of a lower block and sit in and let them play in front of us sometimes when we play against the better teams, and then we try to counter attack from there,” he said. “Considering what we have and what we need to do to improve against these clubs, I just thought that we should try to push them a little bit in order to win the ball higher up the pitch and have a chance to score. And we made opportunities.”
He told the Tartan Army not to panic, or at least not to worry about the staff and playing group losing faith in them. Fans are free to freak out if they so choose, he said. “I don’t care about the response from people back home,” he declared. “I won’t lose my cool. We remain calm. We simply want to improve so that, ideally, everyone has a better Tuesday night.
There is no need to give Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland, who has scored 28 goals, any more motivation. On Friday, he had an opportunity to tie the score at one, but his usual confidence in the penalty area failed him.
When asked if he would wrap his arm around him during training this coming weekend, Clarke answered, “Why? More goals are missed by strikers than are scored. He’ll bounce back from it. I felt he did a good job.
GET MORE NEWS HERE
Be the first to comment