IF Steve Clarke had logged on to any social media websites following the defeat to the Republic of Ireland on Saturday night, he would not have struggled to find advice on how to resurrect Scotland’s fortunes.
Fans and former players have put forward numerous theories about why the national team failed to perform at their best in the Nations League match in Dublin at the weekend as well as the World Cup play-off semi-final defeat to Ukraine earlier this month and offered myriad solutions to the current dip in form.
Yet Clarke, whose team take on Armenia in their third Group B1 game in Yerevan this evening, has deliberately ignored the fallout to the desperately disappointing 3-0 loss in the Aviva Stadium.
He remains convinced the approach that took the country through to the Euro 2020 finals last summer as well as on a six game winning run in the Qatar 2022 qualifying campaign this season is the right one and is certain his charges will come good if they too block out the external noise and stick to their principles.
“Other people can speak about what they want to speak about,” he said. “I have to stay true to myself and stay true to what these players believe in as well.”
Clarke’s son John became embroiled in a Twitter argument with one BBC pundit who suggested that his father’s position as Scotland manager was now under serious threat following the weekend reverse.
However, the former Chelsea, Liverpool and Newcastle United assistant is not the kind of individual to be riled by others’ views; he has been concentrating solely on coming up with a winning game plan for the match in the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium this evening.
“I don’t do social media,” he said. “Obviously, I know that John was involved in this little spat. I haven’t read the article, but I would imagine it was a strongly-opinionated article and John had a strong opinion on the article. That’s life, eh? He’s in his thirties and he’s got two kids. He’s not my little boy.
“I don’t know what goes in that world. I have to skim over the media to make sure I know what’s going on, but I don’t read any article. It’s how I’ve always dealt with things. It’s just the way I am. It’s how I deal with the whole situation, good or bad.”
Scotland are certainly in a tricky predicament at the moment; lose to Armenia away tonight and their chances of topping their section and securing a Euro 2024 play-off spot will suffer a severe blow.
A third reverse in four fixtures would lead many members of the Tartan Army – who booed their underperforming heroes off the park following their capitulation in Dublin on Saturday night – to call for a change of manger.
Clarke was bitterly disappointed by the display against Ireland. But he clearly feels there has been a hysterical overreaction to the defeat. He has analysed the 90 minutes in detail and is adamant that a failure to convert the scoring chances which they created in the first-half ultimately cost the visitors dear.
“You know what the game’s like,” he said. “Games can run away from you quickly. On Saturday they had a good spell, we had a good spell, they had a good spell.
“We should’ve taken the lead with a big chance from John McGinn, they scored off a set-play that we didn’t defend very well. We had a big chance to make it 1-1 after another good spell in the game, didn’t take it and they immediately went up the pitch and made it 2-0. Goals change games at certain times.”
Clarke, who has several injury concerns, is set to freshen up his starting line-up in Yerevan this evening and is confident that Scotland, who eased to a comfortable 2-0 win over Armenia at Hampden last Wednesday night, can record another triumph over their opponents if they show greater ruthlessness in the final third.
“You saw the way Armenia set up at Hampden,” he said. “They’re not too dissimilar when they play at home. But they have a little more freedom to go forward at home. They showed in the second-half at Hampden that they can pass the ball around if they get time and space to do it.
“We know their threats. We know they’re decent on set-plays. They didn’t have too many set-plays at Hampden, which was good. Hopefully we can minimise those set-plays in Yerevan.
“They’re a big threat on counter–attack, they’ve got some good pace in their team. They like to get up the pitch quickly so we know their threats. But we concentrate on making sure we play to our best. If we play to our best, we win the game.”
Clarke dropped Billy Gilmour, who has had a difficult spell on loan at Norwich City this season and struggled in the 3-1 loss to Ukraine, from his side in the first Armenia game last week and the Ireland match at the weekend.
But he was unsurprised when he learned that his former club Chelsea had extended the central midfielder’s contract until 2024 yesterday; he is convinced the 20-year-old has much to offer the Stamford Bridge outfit as well as Scotland going forward and will come good again.
“It’s excellent,” he said. “It shows they have a lot of faith in Billy. He’s a good player, an important part of what we’ve done in recent times. And he will be an important part of what we do in the future.
“Lots of players have challenging seasons at different times. You have to rise to the challenge and make sure that you learn from it.”
Scotland must show they have learned lessons from the Republic of Ireland loss when they take on Armenia in their final outing of the season tonight or they will suffer another costly defeat - and the online outcry will reach deafening levels.
