10 hours ago
Scotland boss Steve Clarke says he's ‘suited to getting all the stick' and not being loved ‘doesn't bother him'
Clarke also opened up on replacing a major departure in his Scotland set-up
STE ABOUT THAT Scotland boss Steve Clarke says he's 'suited to getting all the stick' and not being loved 'doesn't bother him'
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STEVE CLARKE isn't feeling much love from the Tartan Army these days.
But the Scotland boss insists he has never been the type to bother too much about popularity contests.
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Steve Clarke says he doesn't mind getting stick from supporters
Credit: Kenny Ramsay
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Clarke's Scotland side went down 3-1 to Iceland at Hampden on Friday
Credit: Reuters
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The boss says he's grateful for the chance to put things right against Liechtenstein
Credit: PA
Gaffer Steve Clarke has spent the weekend poring over the 3-1 defeat to Iceland that saw Scotland make it ten home friendlies without a win.
With the vital World Cup qualifiers looming in September, punters are fast losing faith that the national team have any chance of reaching the finals.
Clarke admits his side are 'fortunate' to have the chance to rectify Friday's performance so quickly when they face Liechtenstein tomorrow night.
But he is willing to take the flak and has full faith Scotland can put things right before the competitive action finally kicks off again.
Clarke said: 'As fast as the game goes, you have to recover. Football's never smooth.
'We're fortunate we have a game to put things right.
'I try to be very measured in my approach to football and I try to be very measured in my approach to life.
'I've done alright. I'm over 60 now. I'm still involved in the game.
'So I must have a fair idea of how to deal with the disappointments and how to deal with the highs as well because football, and especially club football, can be week to week — one minute up then one minute down.
'It's a little bit like that in international football but it's more spread out and you have to learn how to deal with it.
Scotland fans need to STOP booing Steve Clarke and his players says Kris Boyd
'I think my character is quite suited to being the guy that gets all the stick.
'Everybody likes to be loved, but I'm very good at not going on social media.
'You get a general feel for what's happening in the world of football, but that doesn't bother me too much.'
Clarke will end the season by saying goodbye to trusted No 2 John Carver over in Liechtenstein.
The friendly in Vaduz is set to be 60-year-old Carver's last in the Scotland coaching set-up after five years alongside Clarke.
The Geordie has pledged his future to Polish side Lechia Gdansk, who he's just saved from relegation in Poland's top league — a feat that saw him nominated for the Ekstraklasa Coach of the Season Award.
Clarke was reluctant to go into detail about it — but says he has 'lots' of candidates as a potential replacement to work alongside Alan Irvine and goalie coach Chris Woods.
Clarke said: 'It will possibly be John's last game with us. We'll decide.
'Me and John will have a good chat after the game and we'll decide what happens going forward.
'If he were to leave us I have lots of people in mind to come in.
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John Carver is set to leave his role as Clarke's no.2
Credit: Kenny Ramsay
'I'd rather not talk about it now because we just want to concentrate on the game we have in Liechtenstein. We'll talk about it after that.'
The sloppiness of the goals Scotland are losing are a concern — but he exonerated rookie keeper Cieran Slicker from blame for the Iceland opener.
He admitted: 'I think we could have defended set plays a little bit better.
'We've been fantastic with set-plays but if you look at the goals we conceded on Friday they didn't do what we've been doing over the last four or five years — since Austin MacPhee came in and set us a way of defending set plays.
'The first one comes from a clearance on Cieran's weaker foot that doesn't quite clear the boy in midfield.
'When the ball comes back, we allow the striker to turn and shoot, and nobody was saving that shot because it was a great finish. That's just the way it is.
'The second goal was a ball into the box that we simply didn't deal with inside the six-yard box.
'If you say that Scotland will touch the ball four or five times without any Iceland players touching the ball and it ends up in the back of the net, that has to be a disappointment.
'And at the third goal, the line didn't drop properly and it didn't drop cohesively.
'Those are things that we've always worked on and normally we're very good at, so that was disappointing.
'We've been fantastic at defending set plays for a number of years. They're just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 per cent down on their concentration, on their application of what we ask them to do.
'And when that happens it shows you can be punished.
Scott McTominay's career
Born in Lancaster on December 8, 1996
Joined the Manchester United youth system aged five and signed his first professional contract in 2013
Made his Premier League debut against Arsenal in May 2017
McTominay went on to win Carabao Cup and FA Cup with Man Utd
Made 255 appearances and scored 29 goals for the Red Devils
McTominay joined Napoli in August for £25.7million
Born in England, he qualified for Scotland through his dad who's from Helensburgh
McTominay was called-up by Scotland in March 2018 and has gone on to become a huge Hampden favourite
He was part of the squad at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024
He won his 50th cap while playing against Germany at Euro 2024
McTominay has scored some huge goals for Scotland, including an injury-time winner against Israel and his famous double in the 2-0 win over Spain in Glasgow
'It's very difficult for me to tell because I can't get inside their heads.
'Obviously we've touched on what happened with Cieran.
'Listen, everybody makes a big thing about Cieran. But if you play a young goalkeeper, there's a chance he'll make mistakes.
'I've already touched on the fact that defensively we should have dealt with the two set plays much better than we did.
'Cieran's a good goalkeeper. He trains well, he works well in the camp when he's in. He's just had an unfortunate night.
'He'll bounce back from it, and he'll do well at his club.
'He needs to play more regular games and he obviously knows that. But he's got a big future in front of him.'
Scott McTominay and Kieran Tierney weren't on the SFA charter which eventually touched down at Friedrichshafen Airport in Germany last night, an hour north of Vaduz.
The travelling party's departure from Scotland was delayed by the late arrival of their aircraft.
Clarke said: 'Scott and Kieran both came into this camp carrying some little issues from the season.
'I think if we'd had a longer turnaround between the Iceland and Liechtenstein games they might have had a chance, but this is the end of season for those two.
'The most important thing is to have a good rest over the summer and come back flying in the autumn.'
Now Ipswich frontman George Hirst could get another run-out tonight.
Clarke added: 'He caught my eye. He had a chance with a header that was probably just too high for him.
'He had a good shot that the goalkeeper made a fantastic save from in the first half.
'He had a good header that the goalkeeper made a fantastic save from in the second half.
'He was on the spot for the tap-in off the goalkeeper was just offside.
'Then Lennon Miller was another who went on and did OK as well.'
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