Steve Clarke insists Scotland ’s Turkey torment was perfect preparation for more torrid trips when the Euro 2024 qualifiers come round. The Scots were torn apart for an hour by a slick Turkish outfit in front of a hostile home crowd in Diyarbakir after which Clarke admitted his side must improve.
It was the manager’s last chance to see his players before the Euro qualifiers begin in March. The Scots face trips to Norway, Cyprus, Spain and Georgia in a tough Group A. And it’s the last of those away encounters in Tiblisi - a graveyard for previous qualifying campaigns - which has sent shivers down the Tartan Army with memories of damaging defeats in 2007 and 2015 all too fresh.
The Georgia clash comes on November 16 next year - exactly a year on from last night’s 2-1 defeat in Turkey. And Clarke, whose side were second best for long spells in front of a hostile crowd in Diyarbakir, said: “That’s why we came to Turkey.
"We wanted to feel the pressure of the crowd, to play against a motivated, good team who were playing in this part of their country for the first time. We prepared for it and it ticked all the boxes that we wanted it to for our difficult away trips in the qualifiers next year.
“If I’d wanted to keep our unbeaten record we could have played somebody well below us rather than a team seeded slightly below us. We would’ve won the game and said everything’s rosy.
“But we’re realistic, everything’s not rosy, we have to keep improving. We got back into the game with a good goal from John McGinn but I’d much rather we’d got to half-time at 0-0.
“The goal at the start of the second-half came on a counter-attack when we were a little bit disorganised. The organisation has to be a little bit better. We can improve on a lot of things and that’s what we have to do.
“I thought Turkey were good. They started the game on the front foot, put us under a lot of pressure, we weathered the storm then conceded a really poor goal from a set-piece, and the first goal was crucial the way the game went. We were patchy first-half, it wasn’t our best performance.”
Clarke opted not to throw Liverpool teenager Calvin Ramsay in from the start for his debut, instead bringing the former Aberdeen kid on at half time. It caps a stunning fortnight that saw Ramsay make his Reds debut as a sub in a Champions League win over Napoli then his first start for Jurgen Klopp’s side in a cup win over Derby County last week.
Clarke said: “I chose not to start Calvin because I sensed it would be quite a hostile start to the game, that’s why I went with Ryan Fraser’s experience. It was always in my mind to bring him on at half-time and I thought he acquitted himself well, did a good job for the team.
“Unfortunately we conceded an early goal just after he went on. We’re obviously missing Nathan Patterson and Aaron Hickey. It shows we have strength in depth and we have a pathway from the under-21s into the main squad.
“He was solid, we tweaked the shape and for his first 45 minutes for Scotland he can be quite happy. I’m pleased for him.”
Despite the defeat Clarke insists there’s positive to take into the qualifiers - not least Ramsay’s debut and the return of skipper Andy Robertson from injury. He said: “We know we can come to a difficult place and be competitive.
“Getting Billy Gilmour back on the pitch was good, a first cap for Calvin, I thought Jack Hendry did very well again, he’s settling in, John McGinn got another goal and it’s nice to have the captain back.
“Tactically we could’ve done with a little bit longer in terms of preparation. But the positive is that when the qualifiers come around in March I’ll have almost a full week to prepare for them.”
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