For a man who’s achieved so much with Scotland across the past seven years, there’s always been a strange lack of love for Steve Clarke.
There is gratitude and respect for him being the first manager in history to take the national team to three major tournaments, yet it often feels like it’s given begrudgingly.
There is a constituency of fans who never have taken to him and never will. There are many others who are prepared to tolerate him yet keep their knives close by. Given his track record, paid-up members of his fan club are curiously few in number.
Celebrated as being a characteristic Scottish trait, the Ayrshireman’s dourness is frequently used as one stick to beat him with. But it’s the perception that Clarke would rather yank out his own toenails with rusty pliers than play attacking football that he’s more often savaged for.
This is an easy accusation to make and it undoubtedly had merit in the aftermath of Euro 2024 when Scotland lost to Hungary in the final game without firing a shot.
It’s much too easy, though, to look at everything through the prism of that abysmal denouement, and much more difficult to consider the reality.
Clarke oversees Scotland training ahead of the pivotal clash with Brazil
Angus Gunn will have to be in top form to keep Brazil out
Clarke’s 26-man squad for the World Cup has some serious talent within it, yet it also contains many players of limited ability at this level.
Aside from a debate over Oli McBurnie, it’s not as if the manager excluded anyone who’d a compelling case. He picked the best men available for the job. That included a raft of English Championship players and several who aren’t first-picks at Celtic and Rangers. It’s no embarrassment of riches.
While Clarke caught a break when drawing Haiti from pot four, the footballing gods snatched it away from him by also sticking African champions Morocco in Group C.
With five-times champions Brazil for company, Scotland were the only one of the third seeds to land two nations sitting in the world’s top 10.
Scotland were a long way from exhilarating against Haiti. They managed just two shots on goal. But John McGinn’s double defected strike was enough to get the job done.
Against a vastly superior opponent in Morocco, the plan was to stay in the game for as long as possible. Despite falling behind after just 70 seconds, Clarke’s players did just that. In the closing stages, Lyndon Dykes, Ross Stewart, Scott McTominay and Ben Gannon-Doak were stationed in and around the box in search of an equaliser.
It did not materialise and nor – it must be said – did the elusive shot on goal. So, Clarke’s band of critics had their moment.
But what would have been the chances of Scotland still being in contention late on has the bugle been sounded after two minutes? Against a Morocco side brimming with pace and guile? Most likely wafer thin.
‘If I go gung-ho in attack and get beat 4-0 you’ll hang me from that bird’s nest up there!’ Clarke insisted. ‘I was pleased how we responded to a really poor start. I think people forget how games change on a goal.
‘To lose one so early was a blow and we had to show a little bit of resilience and ride our luck in the first period, up to the advert break, sorry, the hydration break.
Vinicius Junior enjoys training ahead of taking on Scotland
‘But after that, I felt we found our way into the game.’
To be clear, Clarke doesn’t expect credit merely for giving Morocco a game. Scotland lost a match in which they felt they could take something. Close but no cigar.
He also accepts that any team which is so shot shy is fundamentally flawed. This needs to be urgently addressed ahead of Brazil.
‘We didn’t do enough to create chances,’ he stated. ‘We were good back to middle third and middle third to final third. But not so good after that because we didn’t ready create anything clear and that’s been something we’ve been working on.
‘Especially for games against the top 10 teams, it’s an area where I’ve been looking for solutions for quite a long time.’
He clearly does not see the solution lying in playing an offensive shape which would leave the side exposed, but in simply playing better, by holding the ball for longer, passing it with greater purpose and gambling when the moment is right.
No matter what the naysayers may think and say, this has always been the plan.
‘Social media? What’s that?’ Clarke said. ‘I really don’t look at it. If I look at that then I could be affected a little bit, and I value my mental health. It’s important I stay reasonably sane.
‘Since coming to this camp, I’d say we’ve concentrated more on attacking play then defensive play. We’ve tried to work on that. You could see the fruits of it when we played Bolivia. I know a friendly is different and they’re not a top ten team.
‘If you don’t defend well against the top teams then you know you’ll get punished. You’ve got to give yourself a platform.’
Clarke isn’t the only figure who’s found himself in the stalls out here. McTominay, the star of the side, stands accused by some of failing to turn up. His manager just isn’t buying it.
Clarke keeps things ticking over in Scotland training
‘Scott is fine. It’s a very, very British thing,’ Clarke said. ‘You put people on the pedestal to chop them down. I have got no idea why.
‘He has done everything he’s been asked to do in the games, he has tried as hard as he can. If he continues to be a goal threat going into game three or game four, then hopefully he will end up getting the headlines that he deserves.’
Despite losing their second match, Scotland travelled to Miami with good reason to believe that this adventure is a long way from being over.
While a point against Carlo Ancelotti’s side would all but assure them of progression to the last 32, a narrow defeat should amount to the same thing.
If Clarke is the ultra-cautious coach that so many claim him to be, then this is surely the time when he loads the sandbags on the edge of the penalty box and hopes to limit the damage?
Those who envisage this approach may be forced into some hasty revision.
‘We don’t go into this game thinking ‘let’s get a narrow defeat.’ We go into it thinking “can we beat Brazil?”‘ Clarke stressed. ‘We have to ask that question of Brazil. If we go with that mindset and that mentality then maybe we don’t get the win but we get the draw. Then the draw almost certainly guarantees us a place.
‘I don’t think we get the draw if we just sit in to defend. I know that’s how you guys think that’s how we set out to play against Hungary in the last tournament, but it wasn’t.
‘We spoke more about attacking and trying to create problems in the last game. But by the time we reached the third game at Euro 2024 I think my key players were empty. They didn’t have a lot to give.
‘That was shown in the performance, but I think this time we’re better prepared.’
