Scotland boss Steve Clarke spoke to the press today, two nights after his team’s chastening 5-1 defeat to Germany in their tournament opener.
The Scots are looking to become the first ever side from their nation to make it out of the group stages of a major tournament, but things got off to a far from ideal start with three first half goals, a red card for Ryan Porteous, and a resounding defeat.
Reflecting on the loss, Clarke said: “Disappointing night. Obviously we got a lot of things wrong and we have to put it right in the next game.
“(I) maybe gave too much information, maybe clouded the players a little bit on the pitch in terms of what we do with the ball, what we do without the ball, so we can work on that.
“I’ve spoken to one or two players around the squad whose opinion I value. Had a good chat with a few of them, a little chat with a lot of them on the training pitch this morning to try and put one or two things in their head about things they maybe didn’t do on the pitch that they should’ve done.”
Embed from Getty ImagesAsked what needed to change ahead of Wednesday’s game, Clarke was straightforward: “Try not to concede 5 goals, give a better message.
“In a way we’re lucky because we have an extra day – we had our first game on the Friday.”
Addressing how his side can improve on their defending, he said: “Good information from the coaching staff, good application from the players. it sounds really simple if you say those two lines but that’s what it is.”
“There are no excuses when you lose a game 5-1. You have to take all the criticism that comes, you have to respond.
“The good thing for me is I’ve been in this position before; I’ve always responded pretty well, the players have always responded pretty well.”
On his own role in pulling the squad together after the loss, Clarke said: “Kicking a couple of backsides, giving a couple of cuddles, getting them together as a group and making them understand why we had that performance on Friday night and making sure we don’t have that performance again.
“They understand they’ve let everybody down, they’re disappointed, but they know they have to be ready and up for the next game because thats the nature of being involved in football.”
Clarke was also asked about Ryan Porteous, whose straight red card for a challenge on İlkay Gündoğan saw Scotland concede a penalty and see out the game with ten men.
“He was trying to stop a clear goal scoring opportunity, he definitely went in a bit too hard. We’re all pleased that Gündoğan seems to have no lasting damage. It’s something that Ryan will learn – but it was an honest challenge to try and get the ball, to try and stop a goal scoring opportunity, so I wouldn’t be too hard on him.”
“He’s very down, as you would expect, but we’ll pick him back up, don’t worry.”
Embed from Getty ImagesOn comparisons to their last appearance at the Euros three years ago, when they entered matchday 2 with no points, he said: “(Then) we still had an outside chance with the goal difference, this time that little safety net is gone.
“We have to get four points in the next two games.”
Their next fixture is against Switzlernad, who opened their campaign last night against Hungary with a 3-1 win.
“We’ll spend most of the afternoon analysing the game and working out what we can do to dull the threat of the Swiss and hopefully this time we’ll see Scotland with a little bit more of the ball and creating opportunities.“
Answering a Swiss journalist’s question about Wednesday’s opponents, he said:
“Granit Xhaka is very important, he’s a key player in your team, he makes the team tick, not dissimilar to what Toni Kroos does for Germany. W have big respect for all the players – good team, difficult opponent, and hopefully we can get things right on Wednesday and you go home upset and not me!
“To be involved in professional football, you have to be very very resilient. You have to understand that the blows and going to come, the disappointments are going to come and then you have to be ready to bounce back and that’s what we have to do on Wednesday night.
“(Switzerland) know how to survive in tournaments, they know how to get to the latter stages in tournaments, and it’s a country that we can look at and try to emulate in the future.”
Clarke gave nothing away about his team selection, though, telling journalists they would find out on Wednesday – but is still in a fighting mood as they look to make history by escaping Group A.
“I’m always confident in my players and confident in myself.
“We believe in ourselves, there’s no danger of that. We know it was a bad night, we have to accept all the criticism that comes our way, we have to try and put it right.
“We know what went wrong, I spoke to the players about what I feel was wrong from my side, what I gave them. I think their interpretation of what we asked them to do was wrong, so we’ve worked on that, we’ve spoken about that.
Embed from Getty ImagesAsked who he’d support in tonight’s England v Serbia clash, Clarke said that around the Scottish camp’s own schedule tonight he would try to catch the second half of the game and added: “I think I’ll be supporting Gareth and his players.”
Finally, he addressed the apparent disagreement between himself and touchline colleague Austin MacPhee, laughing as he explained: “It was really simple. Obviously I’m frustrated on the touchline, everyone’s frustrated on the touchline. You get these moments all the time but you don’t normally see it because we’re tucked under a canopy or whatever. Austin just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, as I turned around after a short freekick when we should’ve been putting the ball into the box as we did when we scored the goal.
“It wasn’t Austin’s fault because the players make that decision on the pitch.
“We just had a little discussion about it, that was all.”
Asked if he gave him one of the cuddles he’d referred to earlier in the press conference, Clarke responded: “He’s got long blonde hair, but I’m not going to give him a cuddle!”
You can catch up on reaction to Scotland’s loss, and the Hungary-Switzerland clash in Group A, here on FromTheSpot.