Why Steve Clarke won't repeat 4-4-2 experiment in World Cup qualifying

The National

a day ago

Having been a member of a few potent strike partnerships during his own playing days, the former Kilmarnock and Rangers player very much approved when the national team lined up in an old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation against Liechtenstein in the Rheinpark Stadium in Vaduz.
Nor was Boyd, who is as well known these days for being a forthright and knowledgeable pundit for Sky Sports as he is for his heroics in the final third during his previous existence, surprised when Che Adams scored a hat-trick and George Hirst netted his first goal for his country during an emphatic and badly-needed 4-0 triumph.
However, the man who found the target on seven occasions during his 18 cap international career suspects it will not be an experiment that will, despite its resounding success this week, be repeated once the World Cup qualifying campaign gets underway in September. Even against Group C minnows Belarus.
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The Ayrshireman can understand exactly why members of the Tartan Army have grown frustrated at the failure of a Scotland striker - of Adams, Tommy Conway, Lyndon Dykes, Hirst, Lawrence Shankland and James Wilson - to score during the past 12 months.
Adams' early opener on Monday evening was the first time in 367 days, in 12 games, in 1,116 minutes, that a player who was leading the line for the national team had found the target.
His effort ended a drought which stretched back to the goal which Shankland pitched in with against Finland in the second half of the Euro 2024 warm-up friendly at Hampden on Friday, June 7, last year.
But for Boyd, who took part in a McDonald's Fun Football session for local youngsters at Hampden on Monday afternoon before watching the second June friendly at home on television, centre forwards scoring goals has become of far less importance in the modern game.
He doesn't think the failures in the Nations League play-off against Greece in March and the June friendly against Iceland last Friday night can be attributed to the Scotland attackers' lack of ruthlessness.
(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) 'The issue is that we grew up in an era when there was always two strikers and those two players usually got you the goals,' he said. 'But I think we've been quite fortunate that we have a number of players behind a striker who have been able to deliver for Scotland.
'The role of a striker has changed over the years, there's no getting away from it. But that lone striker role that we deploy quite a bit allows us to get players from the middle of the pitch forward and they have contributed to Scotland in a big way over a period of time.
'To be honest, I think that's just where the world of football is right now. Look at Mo Salah at Liverpool, Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue at Paris Saint-Germain and Lamine Yamal at Barcelona. They're all big players who score goals for their clubs but they're all wingers.
'If you take the likes of Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski out of the equation, there's not an awful lot of old-fashioned No 9s any more. Football has changed, it's evolved.'
Boyd believes that Clarke, who he worked under towards the end of his playing days at Kilmarnock, would be savaged by Scotland supporters if he played two strikers in important fixtures, in the forthcoming World Cup qualifiers, because it would mean that he would have to drop one of his best midfielders.
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'What Steve needs to do is get the best out of the boys that he's got,' he said. 'Sometimes it is best to play with one up front and have the players that we've got behind him get the goals. That is the way it works.
'If Steve was to put in another striker and drop one of our star midfielders, drop John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Lewis Ferguson or Billy Gilmour, he's going to get criticised for that.
'Our strikers have got strengths in their game, there's no doubt about that. But there's not really an out-and-out goal scorer among them. If a team is a jigsaw and you're trying to put it all together, you need to realise where we're really strong and that is behind the striker with our midfielders.
'Throughout the Steve Clarke era, those players, those big players like John McGinn, Ryan Christie, Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour, have almost always produced when it has mattered most.'
Boyd, though, is hopeful that we have, even in this era of false No 9s, shadow strikers and twin No 10s, not seen the end of the 4-4-2 formation. He will not be at all surprised if it is in vogue once again in the not too distant future.
(Image: SNS Group / SFA) 'Will it come back?' he said. 'Will we see two strikers up front again? You know, the big guy and the small guy? Do you know what? We just might.
'In football, everybody likes to try to reinvent the wheel. But nine times out of ten the game will revert back to what it was before. I for one hope that is the case. I would like to see Steve get two strikers on the pitch and create opportunities for them to score goals. But I do think we will go back to one up front when World Cup qualifying comes around.'
That campaign will come a little too quickly for the boys and girls who took part in the McDonald's Fun Football sessions at Hampden on Monday – but Boyd is hopeful the long-standing initiative will produce a few more players like Che Adams, George Hirst and Lawrence Shankland for Scotland in the years to come.
'Programmes like McDonald's Fun Football are important for communities across Scotland,' he said. 'They give children a safe, positive place to just play the game and have fun.
'McDonald's are offering more free sessions this summer across Scotland and it's brilliant to see. I wish I had this when I was a youngster, I would've loved it. I'd encourage every parent to not miss out and to get their child signed up to their nearest free session.'
Kris Boyd was celebrating the latest free wave of McDonald's Fun Football sessions this Summer, available to all children aged 5-11 across the UK. You can sign up now for your nearest free session at mcdonalds.co.uk/football