STEVE CLARKE has revealed he talked with his Scotland stars and urged them to return to being HORRIBLE to play against.
His side face Belarus in Hungary tomorrow night in their next World Cup qualifier.
4
4
4
It comes after Friday night’s battling 0-0 draw with Denmark in Copenhagen.
And Clarke has told how he has urged his men to get back to being a team opposition players hate going up against.
He said: “Horrible in a good way.
“Horrible in that they make it really difficult for the opposition.
“When they work ever so hard when they don’t have the ball.
“In football it’s nice to do the bits that catch the attention like the good shots and the good play.
“But the basics, the nuts and bolts of football, is about doing the dirty stuff.
“You have to do the hard yards off the ball.
“If we can do that across the six games then I think we can get enough points.
“Did we lose it?
“I don’t think we lost it. I just don’t think we executed it as well as we can do.
“We have to make sure we execute that side of the game as well as we can do it.
“In the lead up to these two games, we spoke about being more solid defensively and working harder as a team without the ball to make sure we give ourselves the best possible platform to win games.”
Scotland face Belarus in Hungary behind closed doors with Clarke gutted the Tartan Army are locked out.
Several hundred fans have travelled anyway, and he added: “Some of our performances during Covid were pretty good and it’s certainly going to be a big change from the atmosphere in the Parken Stadium the other night, but I’m sure we’ll deal with it.
“I haven’t given the fact that there won’t be fans too much thought.
4
“It was put in front of me – this is the situation you’ve got to deal with – so we just get on with it.
“Play the game, get the points we need and go home.
“That’s the best way for us to approach it.
“I’m sorry for the fans that they can’t be here.
“Football is for fans and the Covid times were tough times to play games in surreal atmospheres.
“There will be nobody here tomorrow and it’s a shame that the Tartan Army can’t be here.
“I’m sure there will be one or two of them in their kilts wandering around the local vicinity, which shows you how much it means to them.
“For them it’s just another game and they are travelling to follow Scotland.
“Unfortunately they are not allowed into the stadium and that’s very unfortunate.”
Clarke is planning changes to his line-up after the 0-0 draw with Denmark.
He added: “What I will say is I looked at my bench the other night and I was happy.
“When I was turning to the my bench for people to go on the pitch and help us see that game out I was happy with my options.
Read more on the Scottish Sun
“Obviously I have the same options going into this game to make the changes I need to make.”
Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
