Clarke tried to explain away the run of losses on the road to Germany as friendlies against the elite (no shame in losing against Europe’s heavy hitters), dead rubber group games and glorified training sessions. It will be all right on the night, he said.
It was not and anybody watching the deterioration of this team with dispassionate eyes (not easy given the incredible emotion involved) might have predicted it.
Clarke railed against the Argentine referee who refused to give Scotland a penalty they probably deserved on Sunday night – but his comments were crass, to put it mildly. Heat of the moment stuff, for sure, but those words he used were like much of what Scotland did in Germany – misguided.
What was more pertinent was the complete absence of aggression and intensity in most of Scotland’s performance. What backfired was Clarke’s own rigid belief that picking the same players in the same positions was going to produce a different outcome to the ones seen for nine or 10 months now.
It is a Clarke mantra that he believes in his players – or a core group of players, although plenty did not see any game time. He, possibly, believes too much.
He was not blessed with options, but he had James Forrest and Lawrence Shankland playing no–part and a bit-part, he had substitutions he could have made to shake things up and he either did not make them or made them too late in the day.
His team was passive, flat, unthreatening. They went out meekly and there’s now an understandable focus on Clarke and his team selection, team formation and in-game problem solving. ‘In Clarke We Trust’ is a phrase that did the rounds a while back, but no longer.
He has been magnificent in guiding Scotland to back-to-back European Championships and has the unwavering support of everybody at the Scottish FA.
If he wants to carry on then he will. However, he has to find ways of making this team play with more fire and ambition.
Had Scotland gone out in a blaze of action and ambition then the fans would have taken it on the chin. There was none of that.