Steve Clarke discussion - TA specific - Tartan Army Message Board Jump to content

Steve Clarke discussion


romanticscot

Recommended Posts

Seemed like it would be worth while starting a thread for Steve.

Did anyone see his latest press conference?

https://twitter.com/ScotlandSky/status/1534153792220012546?t=4hArKPQ-BSwlTFD-9LMsOg&s=08

 

So let's open this up,whats your take on Steve Clarke?

Edited by romanticscot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 191
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

21 minutes ago, romanticscot said:

Seemed like it would be worth while starting a thread for Steve.

Did anyone see his latest press conference?

https://twitter.com/ScotlandSky/status/1534153792220012546?t=4hArKPQ-BSwlTFD-9LMsOg&s=08

 

So let's open this up,whats your take on Steve Clarke?

He’s done well (better than anyone since Craig Brown in truth) but if I have any criticism of him it would be that he’s too negative at home against teams of a similar standard to us. Czech Republic at the Euros and Ukraine last week being examples. Even Croatia was a difficult watch (even though they are better than us so this is slightly more understandable). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lot of credit in the bank for me but when we went to three at the back he said he wouldn't just have one plan.  At the moment he seems unable to deviate from it.  When we end up with CB's uncomfortable on the ball and 2 up top we just resort too easily at times to lumping it and the gap inbetween is too vast for any midfield three to cover (it could be Kante, Kante and Kante and still would be blowing out their collective arses).  

When it works though it is fantastic - Denmark is some of the best football I have ever seen us play.  

One thing I've wondered is if he had the Euros again would we invest so much in the England game or relegate it to least important?  Always remember thinking Kane was a dick for saying they were approaching it as 'just another game' whereas we seemed completely knackered and flat for Croatia.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

He’s done well (better than anyone since Craig Brown in truth) but if I have any criticism of him it would be that he’s too negative at home against teams of a similar standard to us. Czech Republic at the Euros and Ukraine last week being examples. Even Croatia was a difficult watch (even though they are better than us so this is slightly more understandable). 

Agreed

Ukraine ans Czech republic are the only slight blotches on his record IMO but he has us competing at a level we haven't seen in years.

Anyone who wants him sacked now is a fuckin imbecile 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, vanderark14 said:

Agreed

Ukraine ans Czech republic are the only slight blotches on his record IMO but he has us competing at a level we haven't seen in years.

Anyone who wants him sacked now is a fuckin imbecile 

Fully agree.

I was just thinking of a distinct similarity in Czech's opener in the Euros to Ukraine's second last week. Cross from the left wing with Robertson nowhere to be seen and header from six yards out from player with too much room. And to add no Tierney in either game with Cooper playing again as left centre-back like last Wednesday.

 

Edited by Caledonian Craig
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have had some big performances under Clarke, especially v Serbia, Austria (away) and Denmark and to a smaller degree v England.

As for the Czech game in the Euros I still think we had the better chances but never took them and who knows what might have happened if Marshall had not been caught miles off his line.

Most disappointing for me were the games v Croatia and the other week v Ukraine, both of which are similar to the point that we didn't perform and were over ran in midfield but the lesson of the Croatia game seemed to have been lost.

All in all I am happy with what I see as a bit of progress, though the worrying thing is if we are missing the likes Tierney, or possibly any other key player against a decent side we seem to struggle with the formation at times.

I don't think there is anyone out there who will do much better than Clarke so unless the next few games are disasters, I am happy to have him as manager.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, robbo cop said:

We have had some big performances under Clarke, especially v Serbia, Austria (away) and Denmark and to a smaller degree v England.

As for the Czech game in the Euros I still think we had the better chances but never took them and who knows what might have happened if Marshall had not been caught miles off his line.

Most disappointing for me were the games v Croatia and the other week v Ukraine, both of which are similar to the point that we didn't perform and were over ran in midfield but the lesson of the Croatia game seemed to have been lost.

All in all I am happy with what I see as a bit of progress, though the worrying thing is if we are missing the likes Tierney, or possibly any other key player against a decent side we seem to struggle with the formation at times.

I don't think there is anyone out there who will do much better than Clarke so unless the next few games are disasters, I am happy to have him as manager.

The Czech game was a strange one for me. Yes we had some decent chances and on another day we could have got something from the game but the Czechs were there for the taking and we didn’t exactly go for it, which we should have done as the home team. Clarke was too cautious for me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clarke is lucky to have inherited the strongest Scotland squad in years, plus having won a number of vital games on penalties or late goals. He does genuinely seem to have the confidence of the players though, with a good spirit in the camp and far fewer call-offs than normal. I also give him credt for the great display against Denmark. But I agree with other posters he is too conservative, and too slow to make changes when things are going wrong. Ukraine was a classic example where the starting formation was such Gilmour and McGregor were completely over-run in midfield. At half time bringing on Christie for Dykes hardly addressed the problem, and that change was enforced anyway due to Dykes' injury. 3 at the back works with Tierney fit, but not with static defenders like Hanley and Cooper. He is also too faithful to ex-Kilmarnock players O'Donnell and Taylor who show up in every squad no matter what. He does not seem willing or able to learn from mistakes. And when asked today how he was dealing with criticism replied, "What criticism?", straight out of the Levein playbook. He could be more gracious and apologetic to the hurting Scotland fans. But at the moment there are no strong alternatives. Some time ago David Moyes expressed a desire to manage Scotland, so he could be an option in the future, but not yet. I will be very curious to see the line-up for Armenia which we need to win, and hopefully with something to spare.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, vanderark14 said:

Agreed

Ukraine ans Czech republic are the only slight blotches on his record IMO but he has us competing at a level we haven't seen in years.

Anyone who wants him sacked now is a fuckin imbecile 

I agree too.

I even give Steve Clarke a bit of leeway with the Ukraine and Czech Republic games. Eastern European teams (including Croatia and Serbia from recent matches) tend to be technically really excellent and invariably better than the media tell us they're going to be. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, vanderark14 said:

Agreed

Ukraine ans Czech republic are the only slight blotches on his record IMO but

Anyone who wants him sacked now is a fuckin imbecile 

I didn't think much of the lack of urgency towards the end of our last Nations League campaign.

I wouldn't say the Czech game was that bad just very unlucky the Croatia game was a bigger error. He has us competing at a level we haven't seen in years and there is no way he should sacked any time soon bar a player revolt and I cant see that happening any time soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

His stats are decent, but not as good as some think, all while we have a group of players that are better than we have had for at least a decade.

He has had some very good results, and some very poor results and performances. We have been timid and looked uninterested against Ukraine, Czech Republic twice, Croatia. The performances that we play well in, are when we have a go at teams, Denmark, Serbia and England are examples of these. We need to play with tempo and fight.

His press conference after the Ukraine defeat was comical IMO, just absolute nonsense and bluster. He has strengths and weaknesses, he isn't beyond criticism, and needs to get rid of several failings, but he keeps going back to some, which is very worrying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, kumnio said:

His stats are decent, but not as good as some think, all while we have a group of players that are better than we have had for at least a decade.

He has had some very good results, and some very poor results and performances. We have been timid and looked uninterested against Ukraine, Czech Republic twice, Croatia. The performances that we play well in, are when we have a go at teams, Denmark, Serbia and England are examples of these. We need to play with tempo and fight.

His press conference after the Ukraine defeat was comical IMO, just absolute nonsense and bluster. He has strengths and weaknesses, he isn't beyond criticism, and needs to get rid of several failings, but he keeps going back to some, which is very worrying.

Agree with all of this.

When the players are on the front foot we’re excellent. There have been big games where we’ve looked like lambs to the slaughter. This needs fixed, and he needs to figure it out. As said in the post above he really needs to work on a plan B and be alert enough to use it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Texas Pete said:

Not really. Clarke has achieved far more with Scotland than Strachan ever did. 

I don't think he is any better or any worse than Strachan. He has some players who are better than Strachan had, but I'm not sure we can give him all the credit for that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Orraloon said:

I don't think he is any better or any worse than Strachan. He has some players who are better than Strachan had, but I'm not sure we can give him all the credit for that. 

Strachan had the players to finish second (or even third in the Euro 2016 qualifiers) and failed to do it. 

Whilst Clarke has hardly been awe inspiring he has achieved more than Strachan with Scotland. That’s a fact not my opinion.

Whether he has better players or not is debatable but on balance I would probably agree but I wouldn’t say it was a huge difference in quality.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think overall Clarke has done an excellent job. He has taken us from a real dark place and created a style and syste that gets the best out of a good set of players.

Positives for me are how he isnt scared to introduce youth. Gilmour, Patterson and Hickey have all been introduced long before most other managers would have. He has also been very good at bringing people in short term, getting a tune out of them and then moving on for better options. Gallagher and Considine for example.

Other positives are a settled squad, good discipline (see Frazer) and what seems to be happy players who turn up everytime and put in a shift.

Negatives are that he seems to lose confidence in the big games and changes things rather than just sticking to our success and banking on us being better than other good teams. Going 2 up top on Wed for example.

I actually think he does change things when not going well alot sooner than most managers so thats a good thing but I just wish he would be abit more bullish when it comes to playing teams that we should aspire to be like Czech, Croatia and Ukraine. We have shown against Austria for example that when we go toe to toe that we can give them plenty to think about.

Overall id say he is the best manager since Brown. Smith and McLeish (1st time round) were good but if we are honest it was ultra defensive smash and grab football. Some of the stuff we have played in last years years has been pinch yourself stuff. Like the goal away to Austria or away to Moldova.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

He’s done well (better than anyone since Craig Brown in truth) but if I have any criticism of him it would be that he’s too negative at home against teams of a similar standard to us. Czech Republic at the Euros and Ukraine last week being examples. Even Croatia was a difficult watch (even though they are better than us so this is slightly more understandable). 

I actually don't think he was being negative against Ukraine - starting with two forwards plus John McGinn in an advanced midfield role suggests he wanted the team to have a go - I think he just implemented his plan badly.  The shape of the side was wrong and he was too slow in rectifying it.

Fully agree though that he's been our most successful coach to date since Craig Brown.  Getting us to a major finals and to a play-off from third seeds in the group are notable achievements. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, scotlad said:

I actually don't think he was being negative against Ukraine - starting with two forwards plus John McGinn in an advanced midfield role suggests he wanted the team to have a go - I think he just implemented his plan badly.  The shape of the side was wrong and he was too slow in rectifying it.

Fully agree though that he's been our most successful coach to date since Craig Brown.  Getting us to a major finals and to a play-off from third seeds in the group are notable achievements. 

Fair point but while playing two up front might seem attacking, when the tactics to go along with it are to lump the ball up to Dykes to try and get him to knock it down to Adams it really isn’t. Tactics are every bit as important as formation.

In fairness that likely wasn’t Clarke’s plan so the players do need to take responsibility as well but what exactly was Clarke’s game plan last Wednesday? It wasn’t to take the game by the scruff of the neck as far as I could see. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Texas Pete said:

Fair point but while playing two up front might seem attacking, when the tactics to go along with it are to lump the ball up to Dykes to try and get him to knock it down to Adams it really isn’t. Tactics are every bit as important as formation.

In fairness that likely wasn’t Clarke’s plan so the players do need to take responsibility as well but what exactly was Clarke’s game plan last Wednesday? It wasn’t to take the game by the scruff of the neck as far as I could see. 

I wonder how much of the long ball play was a result of there not being adequate options in the midfield to play to, due to being out numbered. We do need to mix it up throughout the game to prevent a one-dimensional game that makes it too easy for the opposition; if you do only have one option, the ultra direct tactics seen against Ukraine aren't going to produce regular results at this level.

There's also the issue of how long the players are together to get them used to anything that takes too long to adapt to.

Regardless, qualifying for the World Cup is extremely difficult for us - getting to the play-offs is an improvement on what we've done for decades. We can't dwell too much on this performance, especially if it turns out to be in isolation: one swallow doesn't make a summer and all that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...



×
×
  • Create New...