The Scotsman Football Show - Alan Pattullo in Copenhagen - video Dailymotion

The Scotsman

Alan Pattullo joins Mark Atkinson from Copenhagen to preview the World Cup qualifier between Denmark v Scotland.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotland Football Show. My name is Mark Acton from the

00:07Sports Editor and I'm joined today by our Chief Football Writer Al Patillo who is sitting in a

00:13nice cafe in Copenhagen ahead of Denmark's World Cup Qualifier against, of course, Scotland. Huge

00:20game for Steve Clarke's men as they head to the Danish capital. Alan, it sounds quite lively where

00:26you are right now in Copenhagen. Have you seen any Tarzan Army foot soldiers yet on the streets?

00:31Yeah, there's a few wandering around. I've noticed a few on my flight over yesterday, of course.

00:40Travelling with, I think, a healthy dollop of optimism ahead of this very short, sharp,

00:49qualifying campaign coming up. Obviously, Scotland's fate will be decided over the course of the next

00:5674 days. So, six games, the first of which is against the group's favourites, Denmark. So,

01:02yeah, I think, well, a lot hinges possibly on tomorrow night at Parking Stadium and a lot

01:10generally hinges on next week's trip to face Belarus in Hungary.

01:15We've talked about how the minimum expectation needs to be three points from these two matches.

01:26Denmark has won it once, I think, at the Parking Stadium in three years competitively. That was

01:31against Spain. There could be no underestimating how difficult this match is for Scotland. It's

01:36a really, really big game, isn't it? A tough match.

01:39Well, absolutely, yeah. I mean, if we be back at the last time Scotland won Parking

01:44in 2021, amid the COVID, COVID years, those bleak years, and Scotland turned up like we had 16

01:52outfield players for that game and endured a torrid opening 45 minutes, 2-0 down after 15 minutes.

02:00And it's an unforgiving place, isn't it, at the Parking Stadium? The steep-sided stadium, as it is,

02:07and it's really, you know, you really do feel like you're going into a barefoot. So, it's a tough,

02:13tough challenge for Scotland to kick off with. Possibly the way Steve Clarke might want it,

02:20in terms of getting this game out of the way quickly. Obviously, we have Denmark. It's not going to have

02:24Denmark in the last game at home, at Hampden, when hopefully, obviously, they'll still very much be

02:30in the equation. And perhaps, hopefully, again, you can possibly seal qualification against Denmark.

02:37But, yeah, it's a long, long way to go. Well, not really such a long way, but a long way,

02:43and a lot of ground to cover, put it that way, before then.

02:47A lot of football to be played. You mentioned they go to Belarus, they go to Hungary to play Belarus

02:52afterwards. It's a very short campaign, a little margin for error. I'm sure Steve Clarke won't

02:59have welcomed the news that broke today that two of his defenders will miss this match. Anthony

03:05Ralston and Kieran Tierney, both having to withdraw the Celtic pair, are injured. Josh Doiger-Poforo has

03:10come in. Tierney may not have started, Alan, given that Scotland have got Andrew Robertson there,

03:17and may not play a back through. But Anthony Ralston was surely in contention to start at right back.

03:23Does that mean that Aaron Hickey might have to come in from the cold? His last 90 minutes was

03:29at A-level. It was October 2013 in Scotland's big scheme, but it hasn't been since then. How

03:36big a call is that for Steve Clarke, at right back, now that Ralston's not available?

03:42Well, maybe it's not such a big call now, because you do look at it and think, well, maybe Aaron Hickey

03:46now is very much in position to play. You're right. I think a lot of people were possibly thinking

03:54Ralston would perhaps start against Denmark just because he's obviously playing against Celtic.

04:01Aaron Hickey is a very delicate stage of his comeback, isn't it? But that option's now been

04:08taken away from Steve Clarke. So I do wonder, and I picked the team I thought should play earlier,

04:14and I did have Hickey in it, and I think it is a big ask. But he was put up a couple of days ago,

04:20wasn't he at Hamden, to talk about the upcoming games? I'm not sure he'd be in that position

04:28if he wasn't ready to play. And I'm sure Steve Clarke was looking at him playing some part of

04:37Friday's match. Now it looks like he might well be certainly starting, playing perhaps the first hour,

04:42seeing how he gets on. And I think he's only played a dozen or so minutes so far in his comeback for

04:49Brentford. So it's a slight gamble possibly, but I think a lot of Scotland fans, they're always

04:56urging Steve Clarke to play his best players, aren't they? And here in a campaign which is only six

05:02games long, you know, does Clarke, do Scotland have the, you know, do we have the luxury of waiting,

05:12waiting for someone like Aaron Hickey to reach peak fitness or do we just have to, you know, pitch him

05:18into the, into the back, into the free? I think you're right, Alan, that there is, there's so

05:23little time. And people argue it's great that it's all done in a, in a three-month window and you can

05:29get your team set and they can get some conduit. On the flip side, when you've got so many injuries,

05:34or players coming back from injuries, you can't wait until it's a full fitness. The same could be said, Alan,

05:39for Lewis Ferguson, belonging as captain, who has just returned back from injury. And it's,

05:44you mentioned the piece that you've written for the website report and on the paper tomorrow,

05:48about your, your predicted team. You lose Lewis Ferguson out of your predicted team. Is that

05:53down to match fitness or is it because you think Lennon Miller, who's the man you put in that role,

06:00is the best person to play at that? Yeah, I think some concern, obviously,

06:04Lewis Ferguson, he hasn't, he hasn't played, hasn't played at all this season. So I think,

06:11the same, obviously the same can be applied to Lennon Miller, since his move to Udinese in Italy.

06:18But I just think, the way Lennon Miller came in in his last appearance against Lichtenstein,

06:26and just to lift the, lift the team, he just seemed to lift it. And I just think, you know,

06:32it might be a slight wild call on my part, but I would just, I'd like to see him play. And, you know,

06:37again, you know, pick your best players, Lennon Miller is certainly one of them, 19 years old,

06:43again, it'll be a tough test in an unforgiving landscape as the parking stadium. But, you know,

06:52I think the zest of youth, the kind of bravery of youth, the impetuousness of youth might be

07:00something that might be qualities that Scotland could certainly use against Denmark. So, yeah,

07:07I'd, I'd say to Steve Park, be bold.

07:10Would you be bold at number nine as well? I want to talk about Kieran Bowie,

07:15the hip-stringer, the in-form hitman, starting for Scotland. He's only got one cap,

07:21again, Klistenstein, came on towards the end. Is that, is it a step too far to put him in ahead of

07:27more season stretches, like Jay Adams, Lennon Banks and George Hurst?

07:32Yeah, I think it's an interesting, very interesting debate, that one, Kieran Bowie. I think most people

07:41will see Kieran Bowie as a future Scotland number nine, a future regular Scotland number nine. I just

07:47think tomorrow night might be a bit too early for that decision. And I just think Jay Adams has really

07:55let Steve Park down. He's a strong runner, he's a strong runner, and, and, and, you know,

08:02could have given the ball up, could have, could have, could have that kind of, um,

08:07number nine skill set. So I think, I think Steve Park will, will, will pitch, uh,

08:11Chee Adams in. And also, you know, you don't, you don't drop, you don't drop strikers who've just

08:16scored a hat-trick in their last appearance, in their last international appearance. So I think, I think,

08:20Chee Adams will get the shirt tomorrow, and I think I would agree with that.

08:24So, Alan, what's next for you? You head over to the parking stadium tonight, and Steve Clark,

08:29and we assume Andy Robertson will adjust for that.

08:31Yeah, uh, we've got a pre-nash press conference, Steve Clark, and, uh, a player, probably skipper,

08:38probably Andy Robertson. So, um, interesting to see, um, get their thoughts on, on the night,

08:44the night, the night before the, the big kickoff. And, um, yeah, I think spotting players will have

08:50done their training in Glasgow today already, so they'll might just have a, a wander around,

08:54a wander around the stadium, or at least, uh, a look around the city as well, Copenhagen, and, uh,

09:00yeah, um, then we'll all be, we'll be set for, for tomorrow.

09:05I've got to ask you, Alan, I know you probably don't like making predictions,

09:08but where do you see tomorrow night's game going? Um, I, I think, uh, a tough, really tough game.

09:16I think the Scotland can get a, get result, a draw, I think the Green would be a very good result.

09:23I wouldn't, obviously, be ideal, but, uh, you know, leave Copenhagen with a, with a point,

09:28and then look to the, the second game against Belarus to get, uh, that all unfortunate first win.

09:33It sounds like a, a vibrant cafe you've got there in, uh, in Copenhagen, and I'll let you get one more

09:41coffee before you head to the parking service. Alan Patillo in Copenhagen, the head of Denmark versus

09:47Scotland. Thanks for joining us. We'll have all the latest, uh, pre-match, analysis, comments,

09:52and then, of course, the game itself on production.com and any paper. Goodbye for now.

09:55All right. Goodbye.

The Scotsman Football Show - Alan Pattullo in Copenhagen

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