4 days ago
Steve Clarke reacts to looming Scotland exit from his staff as he makes one thing crystal clear about Cieran Slicker
The Englishman has been an assistant head coach to Clarke since August 2020,
John Carver is set to leave Steve Clarke's Scotland backroom team after the friendly with Liechtenstein.
The Englishman has been an assistant head coach to Clarke since August 2020, when he stepped in to replace Alex Dyer.
The 47-year-old has decided that he has to concentrate all his efforts on his head coach role at Polish side Lechia Gdańsk.
Clarke, who said he would talk about the situation after the game, admitted: 'Possibly, possibly. We'll decide.
'John and I will have a good chat after the game and then we'll decide what happens going forward.
'I'm not going to talk about it now before the game because we just want to concentrate on the game. 'We'll talk about it after.'
Clarke still has key lieutenant Alan Irvine and goalkeeping coach Chris Woods.
The national boss and Woods have been busy in recent days in trying to solve Scotland's goalkeeping crisis, with Craig Gordon, Liam Kelly, Zander Clark, Robby McCrorie and Angus Gunn all injured.
They have called up uncapped pair Ross Doohan and Callan McKenna, while Cieran Slicker, who had a difficult debut against Iceland, makes up the trio.
They have one cap between them and Clarke will have to choose who to go with in the Rhinepark Stadium.
Bournemouth keeper McKenna had been training with the squad, while returning Celtic keeper Doohan returned from holiday in Turkey to get involved. He got the call because he was still training late with Scottish Cup finalists Aberdeen.
The good thing with Liechtenstein ranked at 205th in the world is that they are unlikely to cause too many attacking troubles.
Clarke has decided who will start at No. 1 but wouldn't go public on it.
He stated: 'Yes, but I'll wait until tomorrow just to finalise, but in my head I'm thinking I know what I'm going to do.
'He'd (Doohan) been away with his family.
'Yes, it says everything, but trying to join up with the national squad is not something you turn down, not in my book anyway.'
Clarke confirmed he has also spoken to Slicker.
He confirmed: 'Yes, don't get me wrong, everyone's spoken to Kieran.
'Look, he's come on and he's not had the best, but he's going to have more of that in his career.
'We've all been there. 'It didn't go the way he wanted but he'll be the future for sure.
'He's a goalkeeper, a very good goalkeeper as well.
'We see every day in training the saves he pulls off and how good a person he is.
'Yeah, he's upset with himself but that's just because he's high standards.
'He shows in, he does it, day out for us and his club.
'Ask him that in two years' time and I'm sure he'll be fine.'
Scotland are looking to get back to winning ways after back-to-back home defeats against Greece and Iceland. It is the last chance for Clarke to experiment ahead of the World Cup qualifiers starting in September. Scotland have won just four games in the last 21. The pressure has built on Clarke but he remains unfazed.
Clarke said: "I try to be very measured in my approach and I try to be very measured in my approach to life.
"I've done alright. I'm over 60. I'm still involved in the game.
"So I must have a fair idea how to deal with the disappointments and also how to deal with the highs as well.
"Football, especially club football can be week to week and can be one minute (you are) up and one minute (you are) down.
"It's a little bit like that in international football but it's more spread out. You just have to learn to deal with it.
"I think my character is quite suited to being the guy who gets all the stick.
"Everybody likes to be loved but I don't.... I'm very good at not going on social media and reading the newspapers or whatever.
"You get a general feel for what's happening in the world of football that concerns you but no, that doesn't bother me too much."
