On this Fitbaw Talk Teaser: What should Steve Clarke have done at the Euros?

NationalWorld.com

Watch On this Fitbaw Talk Teaser: What should Steve Clarke have done at the Euros? - NationalWorld.com on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Welcome back, so just for anyone that's been living under a rock during the Euros and maybe

00:14doesn't quite understand just why so much of the Tartan army is starting to turn on

00:21Stevie Clark, given how popular he has been in recent years, we need to talk about just

00:27how wrong he got his tactics pretty much potentially in all three games. Obviously, we got the

00:36draw with Switzerland and as we sit here, the Swiss have just knocked the tournament

00:42holders Italy out, albeit one of the dreadful performance from the Italians, but Switzerland

00:48played what was in front of them and played well. So it was no mean feat getting a point

00:53against them, but let's just look back and start with the Germany game, Lewis. We all

01:01had a little bit of optimism that we weren't good enough to cause an upset and if we'd

01:05have lost that game 2 or even 3-0, I think no one really would have came away from it

01:12that disappointed, but to lose that game in the manner they did, knowing that it was the

01:17opening match of the tournament and you effectively had nothing to lose and I'm not saying Scotland

01:24should have gone out and just been all out attack from the off because obviously Germany

01:29would have picked them off, but the eyes of the world are on us and we just brought nothing

01:35to the table as far as I was concerned. What did you think?

01:39It was hugely disappointing. When the team sheet came out, I remember looking at it and

01:44thinking to myself, I thought it was almost nailed on apart from Billy Gilmore who I would

01:50have had. I think he's the future of the national team. I think he's one of the first names

01:57on the team sheet going forward for me because he proved in the two games against Switzerland

02:02and Hungary that he used his class on the ball, a really calm head and we were completely

02:08overrun in the midfield which is obviously supposed to be our strongest area, isn't it?

02:14The national team were packed full of quality in there supposedly, but yeah, it was hugely

02:19disappointing and from an early doors, the writing was on the wall after 25-30 minutes

02:27and you're thinking to yourself, well, if you were Steve Clarke, you'd be looking at

02:32it and saying, well, maybe at half-time, and I know there were some fans even calling for

02:37change after half an hour or so in that game, but you're thinking at least make a couple

02:42of changes at half-time because with Ryan Porteous getting himself sent off, we were

02:48firmly backs against the wall. It was a case of damage limitation and they just completely

02:56overrun us in the end. It was hugely disappointing. Opening the Euros, you're looking to obviously

03:03try and create a positive early impression. We knew Germany were going to be up for the

03:10game. I know their record in opening major tournaments in the past hasn't been great,

03:16but we just didn't lay a glove on them at all. It was the same with Clarke in all three

03:24games, I'm sure we'll go on to touch on it, but he didn't utilise the bench anywhere

03:30near as well as he should have.

03:32Barry, not so much we really need to go into on the Switzerland game, but I think the Hungary

03:38game is the one that we really need to dissect because to me there is no way to make the

03:44tactical approach to that game make sense. What do you think?

03:48I think it's spot on. I understand why he would start slightly cautiously in that game.

03:57Okay, it's the game that Scotland need to win, but you don't want to go gung-ho or hell

04:00for leather from the first minute and you end up losing a goal and then you're chasing

04:03the game, so I don't have too much issue with that. As the game went on and you've

04:08got a situation where in the second half, firstly in the first half Scotland were simply

04:15not really laying a glove on the Hungarians. The Hungarians had underperformed themselves

04:21up until that point and were staring at an exit, so you should have had them on the back

04:26foot and been a bit more adventurous even within your five-man defence and four-man

04:31midfield. The second half comes and we're really not pushing the ball out at all. It's

04:37nil-nil. We need a goal to go through. We're going out on two.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended