Following a 5-1 defeat to Germany on the opening day of EURO2024, it is clear that Steve Clarke has plenty on his plate if he’s to mastermind Scotland’s progression to the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time ever.
As the Tartan Army prepare to face Switzerland in Köln on Wednesday, Clarke sat down alongside Andy Robertson to preview a decisive Group A clash. Kick-off is scheduled for 20:00 BST [21:00 CEST], and full coverage of the clash will be available on FromTheSpot.
What did Steve Clarke say?
Steve Clarke spared no blushes when he assessed his side’s performance against Germany.
“We thought we were well prepared,” he explained. “Obviously, we weren’t.”
“This time, I think it’s better not to say too much,” continued the 60-year-old, who fielded questions for just eight minutes on Tuesday before leaving the press conference room. He was stoic in nature; almost void of any emotion.
But he found time to praise La Nati, insisting that “they were excellent” against Hungary and highlighting that “when they needed a late goal, they managed to do that.”
“They’re a difficult opponent, I expect a difficult game. For us, it’s [a chance] to regroup and go again. It’s that simple.”
What did Andy Robertson say?
“I could talk all night,” suggested the Liverpool left-back on Tuesday, “[but] it won’t make a difference.”
“We have to act and do a lot better on the pitch. We need to be confident we can perform to our highest level and if we do that, we can cause any teams problems.”
Robertson made clear that Friday’s destruction at the hands of die Mannschaft failed to meet the expectations that Scotland had set for themselves prior to the tournament, expressing that “we didn’t show up the way we wanted to, and that always makes it difficult when you come up against the best in the world. We got punished.”
“[There were] a lot of disappointed faces come Saturday morning, but we gave the lads until nighttime to get over it and then we moved on,” he added.
“We don’t want to look back too much. We have a big game coming up tomorrow night which we’re all excited about and we want to show what Scotland are all about. That’s the best way for us to get a result.”