Slicker the fall guy, but deeper problems for woeful Scots

The Herald Scotland

15 hours ago

It was hard not to bring this exchange to mind as we all watched poor Cieran Slicker's Scotland debut through the cracks of our fingers at Hampden.
The young keeper was thrown in for his international bow after just six minutes, with Angus Gunn limping off following a collision with Iceland forward Andri Gudjohnsen. Barely a minute later, he was picking the ball out of the net as Gudjohnsen - son of Eidur - punished his poor clearance to bend a beauty past him into the top corner.
As another clearance went astray soon after, and his head dropped, you couldn't help but feel for him. When he played his part in a calamitous second for Iceland just before the interval, the final touch coming off of Lewis Ferguson, you almost wanted to give him a hug.
Then, when Victor Palsson's header somehow slipped through his grasp and into the net just after the break, you were almost willing Clarke to perform a mercy act and remove him from the action. Ironic cheers from the Tartan Army when he made a simple catch were hardly productive, either, and almost as much of a poor show as the Scotland players put on on the night.
In Slicker's defence, he was anything but match sharp. It is quite the conundrum why Steve Clarke turned to a man who had made just one first team appearance this season - and even that was as an 81st minute substitute in an FA Cup tie against Bristol Rovers in mid-January – instead of Robby McCrorie, who had at least made 26 appearances for Kilmarnock. An illustration of the dearth of options, granted.
Maybe he felt because it was a friendly, he could experiment a little. But then, that would be entirely out of character, with the rest of his line-up largely a reversion to the back three system that we thought may have been a thing of the past after the disastrous European Championship campaign.
It was a mess. Not only did the Scotland players look as though they had never played the formation before, they looked as though they had never met.
The presence of Grant Hanley at the centre of that backline, willing servant as he has been for his country, was just as puzzling as the fact that despite having five strung across the back when Iceland had the ball, Scotland still appeared wide open.
And most worryingly of all, where once this was a formation that squeezed the best Scottish players into the line-up and mitigated the flaws of others, it now brings out less than the sum of the parts of what is, at least on paper, a talented group.
On this pitch were the best midfielder in Serie A in Scott McTominay, his fellow Serie A winning teammate Billy Gilmour, Coppa Italia winning Bologna captain Lewis Ferguson, an English Premier League winner in Liverpool's Andy Robertson and Aston Villa captain John McGinn. But none of them performed anywhere near the levels they were capable of, and they were deservedly beaten by a side who, with respect, were made up of players from club sides who are largely paupers by comparison.
There were one or two reasons to be mildly cheerful, over and above John Souttar's headed equaliser.
George Hirst looked busy enough up front, putting a header just over, at least forcing a good save from Elias Rafn Olaffson and being denied his first Scotland goal only by a VAR check spotting McTominay offside in the build-up.
Max Johnston got a run-out on the right, and it was his corner delivery that Souttar converted. Lennon Miller came on for his debut. But, erm, that was about it.
Clarke had spoken in the build-up to this game about how he wanted to address the abysmal record he has had in friendly matches as the coach, with just two wins from 12 matches. And those were against Luxembourg and Gibraltar. Scotland overall have now won just three of their last 21.
He joked he had stressed the importance of arresting that run to his players in colourful language. But it was the Tartan Army who were turning the air blue being forced to sit through this, having paid a pretty penny to do so too.
This was as sparse as Hampden had been for a match in quite some time, and while there were some mitigating factors – the fact it was an end of season friendly, less than glamorous opposition, the game being live on the telly – there is no doubt that the pricing structure played a part in that too.
Adult tickets were priced between £40-£45, and while this match was also folded into the five-match discounted package for Scotland Supporter's Club members, the Scottish FA were hardly encouraging walk-ups by pegging the prices at such a level.
Had they known what they were about to be subjected to, even less would have bothered.
You don't often get international friendlies these days, and thank the good lord for that. If the fans didn't get anywhere near value for money, Clarke certainly got plenty food for thought.