Steve Clarke believes Scotland deserved to leave Lisbon with a point after Cristiano Ronaldo's late goal completed a Portugal turnaround and left the Scots bottom of their UEFA Nations League group.
Clarke's men are amidst a disappointing run that's seen them go winless from their last eight competitive fixtures. They have also conceded an incredible 33 goals in their previous 14 games. Stats that don't reflect the positive energy that swarmed the nation prior to Euro 2024 this summer.
Speaking after a game which his side led for 54 minutes before losing two cheap goals, including yet another sucker punch right at the death, the Scotland manager said: "I thought for a long period of time that we were going to get something from the game. I'm really disappointed for my players because the effort and the quality that they put into the game deserved to get something from it.
"I think there's a lot of positives if you can ignore the results. We are professionals so it's disappointing to come out of the two games where I feel we played well in both games, and don't have anything to show for it.
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"It's a level where the lessons are harsh, but it's important, and I spoke to the players about it in the dressing room, to not be too hard on themselves. Obviously disappointed, but they have to understand the work that we are doing and I think if you look at the amount of time that we had to work.
"In the summer it was a back three, we decided to change the system a little bit for these two matches, and I think you can see the players have done good work. Like I say, that's why I'm so disappointed for them because they have put so much into these two games.
"They want to win, they want to do well for their country, that's the nature of the squad of players that we've got."
There was a sense of bravery and urgency on the ball evident during this international window that was nowhere to be seen at the European Championships.
Asked if his message towards to his players had changed amid a notable formation tweak due to the absences of Kieran Tierney and Aaron Hickey, Clarke stated: "We just, as you always do at the end of a journey which was the Championships in the summer, is, you go away, you have to analyse everything, I have to analyse myself, my staff, the players, and then you have to decide what the recite is. Then you have to explain that to the players and then like I say, we look to try to improve and build what we do.
"I'm very honest with my players and they are very honest with me, and I think when you have that relationship with your players then you can do what we've done in a short space of time. But then we want to do it again when we get together in the next camp. We've got a little bit longer so we might manage to get three training sessions in before we go onto the pitch.
"It gives us more time so myself and the coaches can go away and analyse this game, the Poland game, and hopefully we can give the lads a few more pointers for the two games next month which don't get any easier; Portugal at Hampden and Croatia away."
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Clarke repeatedly referenced that Scotland were embarking on a new cycle as they strive to make their mark in the top tier of the Nations League while looking towards the 2026 World Cup.
“I reiterated to the players that they have to understand what part of the cycle we are in, what we’re trying to do," the ex-Kilmarnock boss continued.
“We’re trying to readjust a little bit after the summer. we can use these matches to try to build and make sure the end goal, as always, is qualification for a tournament for a country like Scotland.
“It would have been nice to get some points and not to concede late goals. But this is the level that we’re at because we have been a good team and we’ve managed to get to the top level of the Nations League. The players understand how difficult it is to get results at this level.”
Portugal head coach Roberto Martinez praised the attitude of his players after substitutes Nuno Mendes and Ronaldo combined for the winner.
“We had a difficult match – it was quite a challenge,” Martinez said. “Scotland are physical, strong, they attack very fast.
“We have shown the dressing room has a group of more than 11 players who are prepared to help the squad and who give everything to the end.”
