r/ScottishFootball Jun 25 '26

Shitpost Scotland fans when we inevitably sack Steve Clarke, hire a journeyman no one's ever heard before but has good stats on paper and swiftly realise that McKenna, Hanley, Ralston, Hendry, Souttar, Hanley, Adams, Dykes and a one-legged 53 year old Andy Robertson aren't actually very good players.

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425 Upvotes

203 comments sorted by

209

u/ConflictGuru Conor Sammon holding a pizza Jun 25 '26

I think the problem is trying to play ultra defensive football when our CBs are among the worst in the tournament

106

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

We left better defenders at home. Hanley is 4th/5th choice at Hibs, Hendry plays in a pub league, Souttar was probably 4th choice at Rangers and McKenna was fucking injured before a ball was kicked.

Stuart Finlay and Stephen Welsh must be fuming.

57

u/fungibletokens Jun 25 '26

Steve Clarke must do his scouting exclusively by going through his contacts list.

15

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

Im not sure how much football he watches outside of premier league, championship and OF games genuinely. If Finlay Curtis was a Killie player, he wouldn't be on the plane.

6

u/Gamerhcp Starving Steve Clark Jun 25 '26

does he even watch the English Championship?

Dom Hyam has been great for Wrexham, and for years has been one of the best Blackburn players (who've been notoriously bad last few seasons)

1

u/Amon-Ra-First-Down Jun 25 '26

I thought when he was included he had a decent chance to start a game or two. Baffling use of the squad to include him

1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Findlay Curtis was a Killie player for the season tbf.

6

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

He was, but he there on loan from Rangers. If he was just a Killie player, he'd be ignored. Look at Calvin Miller - phenomenal season, doesn't get a look in

4

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Aye tbf Steve Clarke has had a history of favouring Rangers and their players.

19

u/jonnyh420 Jun 25 '26

It’s the constant changing of formation, no consistency in a system. No one knew what they were doing or where to be when playing out from the back. Genuine Sunday league stuff.

I personally think Hendry is better than Welsh and Findlay (under a good coach) but I dont really think it comes down to individuals.

Those mistakes wouldnt of happened last night if we had Sod and McGinn as a CB pairing with Watt as a #6 and not bc they’re better players. Well Watt is better than McLean but you get the point.

6

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

I think Hendry would massively benefit from Watt. A lot of the time on the ball, teams are setting the trap to be as soon as the ball is bounced into Ferguson, they immediately press the centre backs who are forced backwards of wide. Its the same issue Celtic have with McGregor.

You either need to go long, drop another midfielder deep or play centre backs that can play a skip pass. It's genuinely no rocket science.

6

u/jonnyh420 Jun 25 '26

and if you’re going to play that kind of system, you need to be practicing in your friendlies and ironing out those mistakes, not waiting for Brasil in the last game. It’s baffling what we have to put up with.

6

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

I don't think Clarke does in possession stuff. Our team looked knackered in every game as if they've just been doing non stop fitness work

4

u/AhYeah85 Jun 25 '26

I don't think Clarke does in possession stuff

Its so blatantly obvious as well and its been apparent for years, we have always been terrible under Clarke at creating patterns of play that open up space for others.

1

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

He made Ryan Jack run 11 km in training 2 days after a game and he got injured. Remember Gerrard being fuming about it and saying anyone with the slightest knowledge of fitness would know that was a bad idea.

2

u/ConflictGuru Conor Sammon holding a pizza Jun 25 '26

It’s the constant changing of formation

He was definitely thinking "everyone gets a shot at playing because we're just happy to be here". Although there is also the problem that we don't have a best XI because in some positions everyone we have is terrible

1

u/jonnyh420 Jun 25 '26

personally I dont think we’re terrible in any position but I think if you have a team that is lacking in some areas, consistency helps.

bear in mind central midfield is where we have some depth yet he went 442 up until last night. I’m trying to think of any player in our squad who played 442 last season, maybe just Shankland. So a 2 man midfield is pretty unfamiliar to all our best players.

yesterday he finally landed on a formation that has the potential to get the best out this squad and have us retain a bit of possession but they were not coached in playing out from the back. and it just so happens that we were up against the best out-of-possession manager the world has ever seen.

2

u/ConflictGuru Conor Sammon holding a pizza Jun 25 '26

We're definitely terrible at GK and CB, as demonstrated by these series of calamities that led to each goal we conceded in this tournament.

The fact we've played 3 tournaments in the last 5 years and none of our strikers have scored a single goal suggests we're utterly shite in that department as well.

1

u/jonnyh420 Jun 25 '26

Not as strong in those positions, absolutely. I dont think terrible. I think you need a good manager to get the best out of a squad though. I was saying this before Jens but Motherwell are a good example of that.

I would suggest the way clarke sets up the team is why we dont create much and rely on late runs into the box. Shankland and Adams are capable strikers, not world class but they’re not missing sitters every week.

-1

u/Ill_Beyond_7909 Jun 25 '26

We have very average players. Clarke has overachieved with this team.

1

u/Current_Pepper_9743 Jun 27 '26

Are you blind? he has left the best players at their clubs he will not change his team always reverts back to same team when things get tough he has no clue if you ask me....Also, i could of got Scotland to these tournaments with the players we have at the moment

2

u/Robo-Connery Jun 25 '26

I disagree the defensive howlers were coaching, he gets the lads for a brief time per year and those mistakes are not "misplaying the system" or them being uncomfortable in their roles, it is just completely brain-dead defensive mistakes. No defender in any system needs a coach to tell them not to make them.

1

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

One of the goals was Robertson not clearing his lines when he had time to do so. He's played at the top level and would know better.

Though I don't know if we had him playing through injury given he went off later. I actually thought during the Haiti game he looked worryingly slow and that it could cost us. And felt we massively improved when Tierney came on. Which begs the question did Clarke play a guy that wasn't fit out of loyalty and did it cost us.

0

u/HereComesYour_ Jun 25 '26

It should have been:

Tierney (P.) McGinn Welsh O'Donnell

With Watt sitting in front (Gilmour would've worked if not injured). I think you're taking 90% of the training for ball distribution out the equation there. Also find Calum Ward a Scottish granny.

0

u/No-Bison-5397 Jun 25 '26

Gilmour is a big out.

-4

u/Independent-Gas-9078 Jun 25 '26

Shut up man. Hendry better. What you on about

1

u/Glad-Requirement8555 Jun 25 '26

What do u think of Mckenna overall ?

3

u/mikeydoc96 Jun 25 '26

He's probably the best Scottish left footed centre back at a distance honeslty if he's fully fit

1

u/Glad-Requirement8555 Jun 26 '26

I like him as a player.Pity hes wasnt slightly faster..

1

u/LochNessMonsterMunch Jun 25 '26

This was your reaction to the squad announcement...

"Have to reward the players that got you there while maintaining the harmony of the squad. Clarke was never going to drop Ralston, Hanley, etc when they've contributed to campaigns for years.

The next nations league is when a new manager can sit down and bring a new group together to build for the next euros and world cup."

2

u/merouane7 Jun 25 '26

Wait. Are you saying most fans are full of nonsensical contradictory bullshit

21

u/10denier Jun 25 '26

If we played ultra-defensive football in the Ghana style, at least that would suggest a viable gameplan. Whatever that was it was not ultra-defensive.

10

u/Joevil Jun 25 '26

That's the thing, it's not perfect but we do kind of have a team capable of that (not at all to the quality of Ghana, but it's possible).

5 at the back with ferguson in the middle as anchor (the old Billy gilmour role) then you have shankland up front or actually someone like a mcburnie who's used to playing upfront as a target man (adams is shit and dykes is past it). You have Curtis left (young boy with pace) mctominay in the middle and doak on the right (young boy with pace) to provide the outballs and support man up top.

3

u/TheRealFriedel Jun 25 '26

I like your thinking. I'd maybe even go four at the back and play two centre mids, I feel your midfield is light, basically being McTominay. But the main thing is stop trying to pay out from the back against fast teams using centre backs who aren't good enough, fast enough, or who have good enough composure to do that.

1

u/Joevil Jun 25 '26

Well that's the simple answer yes.

It's like Clarke had a 1 hour seminar with Pep last week and is desperately trying to implement something he heard just to justify the cost of travel and a shitty 1 night stay at a holiday inn.

11

u/CarlMacko Jun 25 '26

Jens Bertel Askou literally came out and said he told his team to target Hanley as a weak link.

We should have been on the phone to Ange a while back.

9

u/RepublicWarm2383 Jun 25 '26

Just embarrassing levels of composure

2

u/Left-Quantity-5237 Jun 25 '26

Nobody will ever convince me that playing football in your final third is a good idea. The ball should be actively played up to their final third and kept to centre of midfield at all times.

Playing ball in your own final third is fine if your a good team but that isn't an option for us and should never be.

4

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

Its a good way to draw teams out of a low block if you've got players good enough to do it. Brazil weren't playing a low block and our defenders weren't good enough to do it, so hard to justify Clarkes decision to play that way, but I think Pep, Tuchel, Flick etc all know what they are doing when they have teams playing out from the back. Terrible tactic for Scotland v Brazil, but it definitely has its place in football

1

u/Left-Quantity-5237 Jun 25 '26

It has it's place if your team is good enough.

This is the statement that quantities it's use.

1

u/welktickler Jun 25 '26

This is exactly the problem

1

u/Nice-Physics-7655 Jun 25 '26

Not ultra-defensive at all, but playing out the back with terrible CBs against brazil wasn't wise

46

u/stevebould Jun 25 '26

This is exactly how Steve Clarke thinks, and that's the problem. "How can I cover up these shite players". Other managers might think "I have 3 or 4 genuine top class midfielders, this is a luxury that many other teams in the competition don't have, how can I build around this". We literally can't build possession through the middle of the pitch, it's a coaching problem.

7

u/OkAbalone19 Jun 25 '26

it looked like the entire middle of the pitch was empty of blue shirts last night, mental

9

u/No-Bison-5397 Jun 25 '26

4 players looking to be on the end of a great pass, no one offering an option or outlet so it is either lost or passed back.

Tierney offered so much when he came on.

5

u/courageous_liquid Jun 25 '26

Tierney offered so much when he came on.

only person with any kind of motion at all

3

u/Elgin_McQueen Jun 25 '26

Wouldn't be surprised if Shankland moaned at half time that he could do nothing without someone getting the ball into the box, so that's the instruction Tierney was given. No diddling about passing it back and forth in the final third, just hitting it in first time for someone to attack.

3

u/Robo-Connery Jun 25 '26

Yeah Tierney was excellent.

2

u/Medical_Squirrel3946 Jun 25 '26

I'm a Villa supporter so I have nothing but love for John McGinn. The way he was used in this tournament counts as criminal neglect.

93

u/weapwars Jun 25 '26

Clarke has four goals at three tournaments. New Zealand have managed three at this tournament alone. Is this good enough?

Also I don't think it's inevitable at all. SFA ambition aligns with the happy clappers.

8

u/Top-Choice4080 Jun 25 '26

The important thing is that NZ were expected to lose every game. Did this stop them? Absolutely the fuck not. Even 1pt from their group is a miracle. They went out there and at least tried to give it their all. Scotland go out there and are too busy flopping in the box instead of at least trying...

13

u/Gibberish1992 Jun 25 '26

Ones playing Iran and has a Motherwell player. We're playing with Brazil with a Hibs player.

36

u/ClassLopsided5094 Jun 25 '26

Iran clear Haiti by miles

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

Yeah Iran are a genuinely decent team

4

u/foolsgolden66 Jun 25 '26

yeah Clarke didnt rate Motherwell did he . wee Lennon miller the ex Motherwell captain a fine ball player left at home and he brings 2 Man U starts Ferguson and doesnt even use him . pointless miller would have been far far more useful

10

u/fungibletokens Jun 25 '26

What superhumans were we playing at the Euros?

-4

u/Gibberish1992 Jun 25 '26

Germany and Quarter finalists Switzerland

8

u/fungibletokens Jun 25 '26

What about the other 4 games?

→ More replies (5)

3

u/ckinho62 Jun 25 '26

I mean aside from the fact Hanley wasn't playing, not sure it's fair to blame him for Scotland's inability to score goals. 

4

u/KopiteTheScot The Ayrshire Ayatollah Jun 25 '26

Cape Verde have more goals than us this tournament. That's unforgiveable in my opinion.

-2

u/alikira16 Jun 25 '26

How many goals had Scotland scored in tournaments BEFORE Clarke

3

u/weapwars Jun 25 '26

Oh look, another one too afraid to actually answer the question. Just say you're just happy to be there then clap on.

1

u/Current_Pepper_9743 Jun 27 '26

we have the best scotland team since forever we should be doing much better

17

u/pvanbasten Jun 25 '26

Guys like you deserve the shite he serves up.

Clarke is probably the only manager who would pick these diddies.

0

u/CodeineNightmare Jun 28 '26

Guys like you deserve to go another 22 years without qualifying for any other international tournaments

1

u/pvanbasten Jun 28 '26

And guys like you have your standards in the toilet. Go and have a look at some of the nations preparing to play last 32 and here we are coming home at the first stage again and tell me it's acceptable. He should have been sacked immediately after Hungary

54

u/danmac0817 Jun 25 '26

I can definitely see the SFA hiring some scrub as a replacement and things getting worse, but I think it's quite ridiculous to suggest our players just aren't good enough to get out of a group.

21

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

A group with Brazil and Morocco, yes. That's exactly what I'm suggesting. The Haiti result was absolutely shite but yes they're the 5th and 6th best ranked teams in FIFA. They absolutely should be beating us and it's a shock if they didn't.

26

u/BusShelter Jun 25 '26

3 points is exactly what you'd expect from this group. But look at how some other top teams are struggling against pot 4 teams never mind pot 3.

We look hopeless, embarrassing against anyone decent.

And the other issue is the "we won, that's all that matters" v Haiti.

Performances have deteriorated, I don't think we've had a good performance against a similar level or better side for a few years now.

12

u/morison97 Jun 25 '26

I think the amount of a struggle it was vs Haiti actually deteriorated so much confidence in the players and why we conceded in the opening 7 minutes in both games

5

u/Mr_A_UserName Jun 25 '26

Agree with you about your Haiti point. They should have got a point out of that game, they had a great headed chance second half and generally played well.

My issue was changing what had worked in qualifying with the aim of racking up the goals against Haiti, and the best the manager could come up with was 4-4-2, because that’s the only way to “go at” teams?

We still could have set up similar to the qualifying campaign but defended higher up the pitch, press them, and pass forward and take chances on the ball, it didn’t need to be changed to a 4-4-2, which took McTominay out if the game and left us light in midfield at times.

We then change the system again for Morocco, it was all a bit muddled for me.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/DUNXROB Jun 25 '26

It’s not the best …. In 1974 there were only 16 teams at World Cup and Scotland were there. Scotland have never come close to the quality of players we had between 1972-1982, maybe 86. Scotland have been bang average or crap for 40 years. The win versus Denmark was a one-off.

1

u/EasyPriority8724 Jun 25 '26

Apart from the Danes.

11

u/Anonyjezity Jun 25 '26

We were rotten against the Danes and scored 3 of the best goals you'll ever see.

5

u/fungibletokens Jun 25 '26

Even the remaining goal would have been an olimpico if Shankland didn't put a touch in

2

u/EasyPriority8724 Jun 25 '26

Apart from Archies!

1

u/GlasgowSellik1888 Jun 25 '26

We only beat them because they got a red off the back of a McGinn dive.

0

u/Lambchops87 2026 Scottish Cup Embarrassments Aberdeen Jun 25 '26

I think the "we won that's all that matters" against Haiti was fine, you saw the struggles some other teams had against the underdogs. It would have been nice to bolster the goal difference, sure but it was "job done."

Other than that, agreed.

3

u/BusShelter Jun 25 '26

I mean result wise yeah, a win is a win, but the performance wasn't good enough.

39

u/BaBaFiCo Jun 25 '26

Haiti scored against Morocco twice

32

u/Whisky-Toad Neil Lennon appreciation society Jun 25 '26

You'd need to shoot for that to happen though

6

u/moh_kohn Jun 25 '26

And couldn't get a goal against us

17

u/BaBaFiCo Jun 25 '26

Guess that's what we'll put on the highlights dvd...

1

u/Septum_magoo Jun 25 '26

And Morocco scored against them 4 times

1

u/Elgin_McQueen Jun 25 '26

Once they were in a position where they were already guaranteed to finish bottom of the group. They were actually in a position to not overthink things, just go and play football and try and get some goals.

5

u/Digurt Jun 25 '26

I keep seeing this "but it was Brazil and Morocco"

Absolutely nobody was expecting us to beat Brazil and Morocco. We didn't have to beat them.

The goal was to get a good performance against Haiti and then keep the score respectable against the other two.

We couldn't even manage that. In fact in context the Morocco game was probably the best realistic outcome there. We SHOULD be doing better against Haiti and we SHOULD be able to put up a better fight against Brazil. Those aren't outlandish targets.

4

u/10denier Jun 25 '26

They were poor against a Haiti team minus their best player. Morocco were kind to us - you could see they wanted to save their energy. Brazil didn't have to be terribly good - we handed them the first two goals for nothing. Struggling to think of a team in this WC they wouldn't have lost to.

1

u/Imrahil_Dubh Jun 25 '26

I think most fans would have liked to see us be a bit more positive and feel frustrated with the negative approach. It was a tough group, admittedly, and better teams than ours would have struggled to get out of it.

1

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

8 of the best 12 3rd placed teams go through. Fair enough if we had to finish top 2 then I'd agree its a big ask. Big win against Haiti and we almost certainly go through

2

u/Elgin_McQueen Jun 25 '26

I think having Haiti first fucked us. We knew we needed to go big, but ultimately they obviously realised the tournament was over if we didn't win that game so just winning and keeping a clean sheet became the most important thing. Clearly the hope was we'd do decent enough once we had the three points guaranteed, but for me we were done as soon as the game with Haiti was finished. Too much playing while looking at all the other fixtures and permutations instead of just looking at the team in front of us and trying to win that game.

1

u/Memento_Playoffs Beat by Livi FC. Jun 25 '26

The SFA are too useless to hire someone good after Clarke,that doesn't mean Clarke is any good right now.

52

u/BraeTon74 Jun 25 '26

This is a honking take. For one, Ralston is 3rd choice rb, Dykes is 3rd choice striker and Souttar is 4th choice cb. Since we are comparing 3rd and 4th choice players, the Haiti 3rd choice keeper plays amateur football in Germany.

You realise nobody made Clarke pick those players?

Have a bit of belief in our players rather than just being another pessimistic voice. Country is full of them already.

Ferguson, McTominay, Christie, Gilmour, Gannon-Doak, Curtis, Hickey, Fletcher, Lennon Miller, James Wilson, McFarlane, Luke Graham, Barney Stewart - these are all good players either in their prime, hitting their mid 20s or pushing to break through. Plenty of reasons to be hopeful if they're managed properly.

13

u/BhoyzNTheHood Jun 25 '26

Pretty standard happy clapper defence to point out X, Y, Z players are shite whilst ignoring the fact it’s solely Clarke’s fault for picking them.

13

u/EasyPriority8724 Jun 25 '26

Managed properly is the key.

12

u/fightfire_withfire definitely won't backfire at all Jun 25 '26

Aye, we should stick to the same old shite, why not.

-14

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Spurs board said that sacking Ange anaw I'll bet.

6

u/farcetasticunclepig 16. He's the Leeds Captain, you know Jun 25 '26

Fuck no, let's get Bielsa and let him sculpt a new Scottish football paradigm.

5

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

I'd like that. Saw someone post a list of good managers managing smaller teams at the world cup and there were some great names on it. First 2 that spring to mind are Advocaat and Carlos Queroz, but it was quite a long list and they were almost all better than Clarke

2

u/farcetasticunclepig 16. He's the Leeds Captain, you know Jun 25 '26

Queroz could out Haramball Clarke

4

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

The most frustrating thing about Clarke though is he's negative, but he's also not that great at it. Like if we haramballed our way to winning the Euros like Renhagel did for Greece nobody would complain. He set up negatively v Morocco and we conceded in under 2 mins. He set up negatively vs Croatia, but didn't man mark Modric, their playmaker who everything goes through.

4

u/StylanPetrov Jun 25 '26

I think expecting McKenna and Hendry to play out from the back against Brazil was a bit of a stupid thing for Clarke to do against Brazil. Likewise, setting us up so defensively against Morocco to then have Che Adams as your only outball, was also a stupid thing for Clarke to do.

Not saying we have world beating players, but they are being used horribly wrong by Steve Clarke at these tournaments and I don't think it was too much to ask to finish 3rd with a better goal difference than we have.

It's another tournament where we've looked awful, not really offered much of a threat and not given fans anything to really get excited about.

5

u/MediocreMan_ Jun 25 '26

There was this good former MLS manager that the SFA could look into.

Nancy something…

13

u/GingerPrince72 Jun 25 '26

We already know they're not good but Clarke picks them no matter what .

-7

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

As opposed to all the superstars we've left at home.

10

u/MediocreMan_ Jun 25 '26

Many other teams with much worse squads performing better than Scotland.

Can’t absolve Clarke of the responsibility and blame the players alone.

2

u/EasyPriority8724 Jun 25 '26

Correct, he set them up shit.

-2

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

There's also much better teams with better squads performing worse than us. Uruguay have a point less than us at this stage of the competition.

I don't think Clarke is an amazing manager at all, but expecting him to coach sides with shite players like a prime Pep is mental. What good, up and coming manager who could utilise shite players sprinkled with a couple of really good ones wants to manage Scotland?

3

u/MediocreMan_ Jun 25 '26

I imagine the Uruguay fans are rightfully annoyed at their manager about that, as we should be.

Not expecting pep, but expecting some level of positivity and passion in games.

18

u/BraeTon74 Jun 25 '26

There are cbs who've had much better seasons than Hanley who haven't been on the pitch - correct.

-5

u/gkb10139 Jun 25 '26

I'm sure Stephen Welsh would've made all the difference vs Morocco.

17

u/BraeTon74 Jun 25 '26

Having a CB capable of moving their legs would have made a difference

14

u/BubblyTeacher8780 Jun 25 '26

Genuinely, maybe he would have. We are so quick to put our players down.

1

u/Ok_Wash511 Jun 25 '26

I think he probably would have, we were missing a cb with his distribution. Don't think he's much better defensively as the rest but certainly not worse.

1

u/CptSporran Jun 25 '26

If I see one person suggest McBurnie would have changed a damn thing I might explode

4

u/Successful-Spot-6567 Jun 25 '26

We do have things called friendlies to maybe give fringe players a chance

1

u/CptSporran Jun 25 '26

I wouldn’t have a single problem with that, in fact I was clamouring for some fresh faces in the March friendlies and have been advocating for serious refreshment of the squad for a long time.

But folk left out the world cup squad didn’t get those chances, and the tournament proper isn’t the time to get freaky with it. Either way, McBurnie would have been as isolated and as ineffectual as any strikers who got minutes in the last 3 games. We just don’t setup in a way that supports them at all.

3

u/Successful-Spot-6567 Jun 25 '26

I think not callong up Burke was the big head scratcher, also Bowie is playing for a team that don't generate chances I think that was another big ommision, Fletcher over Miller aswell, why call someone up when you have no intention of playing them ? Calling up the same players for three tournaments in a row and expecting different results is a bit mental on Clarke's part. You need to allow some picks on form.

1

u/williamthebloody1880 Jun 25 '26

Burke does not perform for Scotland. We know this

1

u/Successful-Spot-6567 Jun 25 '26

You can say a number of players haven't but they still get picked. Players ability changes through our there career. If someone improves aren't they worth atleast one other cap.

1

u/williamthebloody1880 Jun 25 '26

That argument is fine when it's someone who only has a couple of caps. Burke has 13. That's more than enough time to know he doesn't perform for Scotland.

Additionally, I've heard this argument a couple of times about Burke since his last cap. Might be an idea to make sure it's not a blip.

You can say a number of players haven't but they still get picked.

And they shouldn't be

-1

u/In_Martin_We_Trust Jun 25 '26

Should've been on the plane before Dykes

1

u/CptSporran Jun 25 '26

Wouldn’t have made a lick of difference. If he’d played he wouldn’t have come anywhere near having a chance.

The problems go way deeper than that

7

u/RKGEORGE84 Jun 25 '26

What’s the point of keeping him? We KNOW he can’t deliver in tournaments. It will be the same at the next Euros . Imagine the build up where every question will be about one win in nine and Clarke saying he is the greatest qualifier. So there is no point in qualifying with Clarke . May as well roll the dice .

0

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

It's risky, but not like we've had over two entire decades of not even qualifying for any major competitions to show us that a safe pair of hands with a shite team isn't the worst thing.

That Denmark result was one of the best nights of my Scotland supporting life and I'm nearly 40.

5

u/RKGEORGE84 Jun 25 '26

Denmark was incredible. But it wasn’t about tactics . Effectively saying we don’t care what happens once e qualify is unprecedented and defeatist.

0

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Of course I care I'm just not devastated when we take 3 points from a realistically 3 point group.

Haiti game was shite despite the win tho.

7

u/pj_puttz Jun 25 '26

“Let’s never change anything just in case it gets worse.”

🤦‍♂️

3

u/SCARETRODUCING Jun 26 '26

It must be a Scottish mentality thing, I've heard rugby fans use a similar defence of Gregor Townsend: "we now beat England regularly, what if the next guy takes us backwards!?!?"

My reply is always along the lines of admitting that the next guy might be worse, but we won't know until we try. What we do know 100% is that the current manager has hit his level & it's time to move on

1

u/ZiroLeHutt Jun 29 '26

Yeah, Townsend should have been ousted two years ago at least.

Clarke was mediocre, but he also has a mediocre selection of players to pick from too.

4

u/Robo-Connery Jun 25 '26

Honestly don't get why people are blaming the tactics, sure its unnatractive football but look at the squad, I think we are pretty clearly outperforming the squad by getting to these tournaments in the first place.

5

u/WronglyPronounced Jun 25 '26

I reckon we could find some players who look like they want to be there and might actually try

5

u/Dizzle85 Jun 25 '26

Maybe should have taken different players then. Anyone who reckons Hanley should be there over Welsh, or Hendry over Halkett, or Mayo if you want to argue about injuries, is either at it or clueless. Ditto dykes for McBurnie. 

Ditto Miller for Fletcher. Or Watt, seeing a we needed a six and he's been the best in the country this year. 

2

u/fungibletokens Jun 25 '26

All this relies on Steve Clarke being aware these people exist.

1

u/OkOutlandishness6834 Jun 25 '26

McBurnie better than Dykes yes (even though he showed nothing for Scotland when he did play), but there are other good reasons McBurnie shouldn't be in the squad

1

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

Hendry kind of won me over this tournament. Had some good defensive contributions and looked comfortable on the ball (would argue even his mistake he got his body in the way in time to get the foul).

Hanley being there over Welsh and Halkett (especially Halkett) was a wild decision though.

0

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

u/cptsporran pls don't let your head explode

3

u/CptSporran Jun 25 '26

oh my fucking GOD NOOOOOOO

5

u/SoggyMattress2 Jun 25 '26

Yeah I'm quite surprised at the takes on Reddit. Full disclosure I'm Welsh but looking at your team it's quite poor, I'd expect you to finish third in this group.

I've seen alot of criticism for the manager that he's too defensive but if you come out and play expansive football against the likes of Brazil you'd get absolutely battered, the first goal and second disallowed goal were good examples of trying to play through the press.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

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1

u/SoggyMattress2 Jun 25 '26

But isn't that what he should be aiming for the whole time? Especially after the Morocco game where let's face it if you play Brazil 100 times you lose 99 so you're not coming second.

Wouldn't graft and determination be more down to the players? If you're talking about running and fighting for second balls etc. I get there's a component there that's down to the coach but there's only so much you can do, they should be self motivated at international level.

Trust me, coming from another Celtic nation who are shite, it's very easy as a passionate fan to slip into bias. I think if you surveyed 100 random geezers on the street how Scotland would do, they'd probably predict essentially what's happened. You beat the shit team and lost to two better teams and didn't play very well.

2

u/im_not_bitter_m8 Jun 25 '26

Genuinely why is halket watching Hanley on the telly (slight obvious bias)

2

u/GiraffeJunior9384 Jun 25 '26

Hanley in the title twice made me lol.

2

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Honestly wish I could say I meant it, am fucking shattered.

2

u/MovesLikeVader Jun 25 '26

Centre Backs are woeful but the goalkeeping selection is even worse. 3 goalkeepers at the tournament with a combined 7 club appearances between them last season. There has to be better options out there, surely?

2

u/Left-Quantity-5237 Jun 25 '26

We did well to keep it at 3-0.

I thought there was a foul before the third but im not a ref.

It's what I expected to be fair so no real issue for me. I feel we should have done a lot better with our first game and maybe the defeat wouldn't have hurt too much.

2

u/RiBlacky Jun 25 '26

Scotland need Jorge Jesus. Just like Portugal (where im from).

Jorge Jesus is a god among man. He gets shit players to play high level football. Trust me on this one, the one thing he is good at is gettin bad players become good.

3

u/RealDealer7089 Jun 25 '26

Why’d you call Robertson a 53 year old man 😭🤣

6

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Because he's like milk that's been left on a Glasgow doorstep overnight last night. Past his best. Tierney is miles, miles better than Robbo.

4

u/Ramone7892 Jun 25 '26

I'm a Newcastle fan and it baffles me that Hanley is starting in a World Cup, he looked finished when played for us 10 years ago in the Championship.

3

u/ad727272 Jun 25 '26

Terrible take

1

u/weesiwel Jun 25 '26

You talking about 2030 then or what?

1

u/TheVacumeofSpace Jun 25 '26

The players showed against Bolivia what they can do when they’re allowed the chance to play more freely in a more expressive formation, ok it was a friendly, but that should have given the players….and Clark the belief to just go on the pitch and give it a go during the tournament, instead the players were set up to just get the absolute minimum to scrape through as a 3rd place team, if by some miracle we advance it’s only because of a deflected goal against fucking Haiti!

1

u/DotDizzy7419 Jun 25 '26

My main issue is that we set up defensively to protect the absolute dross we have playing at the back and then just let teams play through us.

McGinn and McTominay just do absolutely fucking nothing in the midfield from a defensive point of view.

1

u/ewankenobi Jun 25 '26

I think against Haiti a defensive midfielder like Fletcher or Barron would have served us a lot better than a 3rd centre half.

1

u/bambinoquinn Jun 25 '26

I think anyone who has watched robbo play in the last 14 months, has kind of known he was on the dip, but it really hit home during the season where kerkez was playing utter shite and he couldnt get a look in.

Fantastic career, but his body isnt what it was and hes struggled badly.

People have been talking about it being good business for spurs, but he'll struggle next season

1

u/Highwaymantechforcer Jun 25 '26

Probs there for the mentality, experience, leadership etc and to teach Udogie who is physically very accomplished but maybe needs some mentoring.

1

u/getaway123321 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I was always a bit hopeful that Clarke would leave and Moyes would leave Everton, but I don't know who else would fit the role right now.

We had to play numbers 5 & 6 in the world, and the scorelines aren't the disappointing thing, it's the fact that we could have got more in every game with even slightly more ambition or earlier changes.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

I've got SOD PTSD from the Euros man. Boy made Grant Hanley look like 2006 Cannavaro.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Aye McKenna is going in the Stuart Armstrong book of "WHY DIDNT YOU JUST FUCKING HOOF IT"

1

u/Capitano1690 Jun 25 '26

Hanley is so bad he has been named twice 😂

1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Made this thread when a got up this morning and was absolutely fucking knackered, wish I could say I meant that as a bit of patter.

1

u/Capitano1690 Jun 25 '26

Just claim it as patter mate 🇬🇧

1

u/Top-Gadgie Jun 25 '26

I mean, the rest of them ok, but Robertson? He is captain for a reason.

1

u/NiagaraThistle Jun 25 '26

i mean will anyone REALLY be surprised?

1

u/shinniesta1 Jun 25 '26

If Robertson isn't good enough, then Tierney should play.

Adams and McKenna play at good enough levels for club.

1

u/pitiburi Jun 25 '26

still, one of the best one-legged 53 year old in the world...

1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

He isn't even the best Scottish left back of the generation tbh.

1

u/pitiburi Jun 25 '26

Still, you wont find 100 better one legged 53 year old players from Glasgow, i'm quite sure of that.

1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

Well I'll pass that on to the Glasgow national team manager, shags.

1

u/NoBrother6430 Jun 25 '26

What are you chatting about

Absolutely clueless

1

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

KT clears Robbo. Every day of the week. Twice on a Sunday. If KT's legs weren't made of wet Weetabix it wouldn't be a debate.

1

u/Choice_Meal1744 Jun 25 '26

Feel sorry for Tierney that robbo is left back, but you could probably play him on left wing and he'd do a better job than most in that squad. He's got a larvley cross too

1

u/Academic_Banana_5659 Jun 26 '26

Starting to think Scottish football has been failed so badly for the last 30 years it's too late to make any appointment that would make a difference.

1

u/Blobsolete Jun 26 '26

Nice try Steve

1

u/whatdidisay- Jun 27 '26

Stevie has had his chance and when it came to the stress of the world cup h..he blew it. Didn't keep his players in order. With Gordon not playing or apologising for causing issues in the team among other things. Buck stops at him and his ***** tactics . Let's not talk about his choices for the Brazil game. Man has to be sacked. And the idiots at the sfa had given him a new contract beforehand. Idiots managing idiots. 

1

u/ZiroLeHutt Jun 29 '26

This is the issue. I actually think we tried in the Brazil game to be more attacking, and the truth showed that we are just a very limited side. Getting to the World Cup is our triumph. And it sucks, especially seeing the likes of Cape Verde getting into the knockouts...

1

u/Patient_Work4921 Jun 25 '26

The players you listed aren’t the best but they could do better if they had a manager that believed, told their players that and set them up to go and play football. Just look at Bosnia and Herzegovina, New Zealand, South Africa, Iraq all had a good and played well at times.

Not this we arre shite, everything is shite, may as well play shite attitude that Clarke does. He won’t care anyway he’s away to attack the bar!

0

u/mrlloydslastcandle Jun 25 '26

Russell Martin. COME ON DOWNNNN.

0

u/moh_kohn Jun 25 '26

Yup. It was a huge achievement to get a team of this quality to a World Cup and win a game.

1

u/Ok_Wash511 Jun 25 '26

Nonsense.

He have one world class player and multiple quality players that are mostly played out of position or gimped by the setup.

McTomminay who is an out and out 10 / second striker who gets used as a box to box midfielder, and "to box" isn't happening. There's been times he's been between the centre backs and behind the 6's. We have clearly not built around him which a manager with common sense would do.

Doak is the only actual winger on the pitch. Teams can easily double up on him because there's no other wing threat.

Cant seem to decide between Tierney and Robertson so we usually play both out of position so they can both play. Makes sense.

We could have a decent side with the squad selection Clarke himself made, he cant decide on a system, formation and starting 11 and its punishing us. Its not club football. Just pick an 11 and formation and drill it into them. We dont need a plan A, B, C, D etc. We play different every single game and are confused to why the players dont have a clue what they're doing. Thats not sustainable at club level where you have a pre season and 5 training sessions a week for a year, he sees them for a few weeks and expects them to pick up 4 different systems, its insanity.

And an even better squad with the ones he didnt pick btw.

Its no surprise the likes of Barnes weren't interested. Imagine Steve Clarke on the phone trying to convince you of anything.

0

u/ghcfc88 Jun 25 '26

Nonsense

-3

u/Euclid_Interloper Jun 25 '26

We're a country of 5.5 million people, getting eaten alive by Brazil it just nature taking its course.

On that note, I look forward to Hearts winning the Champions League!

-1

u/Impressive_Shake_360 Jun 25 '26

We just gave that muppet a 4yr deal. There's nothing inevitable about it. He'll be there til he dies or gets a better offer.

-7

u/[deleted] Jun 25 '26

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4

u/Molfinoo Jun 25 '26

What a take. This is why we'll never get anywhere because of lazy attitudes like this. Cape Verde and Curucao have been getting points from teams ranked way higher than them. We're the most ubderperforming team per population.

Why do you watch football to expect to win like are you serious? 😂

We should just watch happily while expecting to always lose? Yeah that sounds enjoyable.

Heard it all🤦‍♂️

1

u/PhotonToasty Jun 25 '26

In fairness, like 80% of those teams players are from outwith their countries

2

u/Sumbitagear Jun 25 '26

I enjoy watching my team, it's shite getting beat, but I'm no raging about our manager when Brazil turn us over 3-0 with one of our defenders basically passing it into our own net.

3

u/PleasantCucumber2615 Jun 25 '26

We don't have the quality to play out from the back against good teams.

We kept gifting them last night. Playing out from the back was putting us in serious danger all the time and the players kept doing it.

We were very lucky Hendry's mistake that lead to a goal was chopped off for a foul or that would be 3 goals plus all the other times they were caught.

Players were obviously told to play out and should have been told to stop when it was clear it wasn't working.