Yahoo News Andy Robertson imagines Scotland life without Steve Clarke as World Cup pitch comes with stark reminder
Andy Robertson says Scotland wouldn’t have reached two Euros on the spin without Steve Clarke at the helm. And that’s why the skipper has backed his gaffer to lead the team into the World Cup qualifiers next year.
Clarke was under pressure going into Sunday night’s heartbreaking 2-1 Nations League defeat to Portugal in Lisbon. His side are currently on a run of just one victory in 14 games - a friendly win over Gibraltar - and endured a miserable Euro 2024 tournament in Germany over the summer.
But the performance at the Estadio da Luz has restored some faith in the manager despite Robertson and his team-mates being the victims of a late Cristiano Ronaldo winner. The Scotland captain says the national team are back on the right track - and Clarke is the right man at the helm. Croatia are up next in Zagreb and next year qualifiers will start for the 2026 World Cup in USA, Canada and Mexico.
Robertson said: “Without the gaffer and his staff, we wouldn’t have got to two major tournaments. That’s a fact. When he took over, the country wasn’t in a great place at all.
“Slowly but surely, we managed to piece it all together. He couldn’t have done it without us - but we couldn’t have done it without him. He’s come under criticism and I’ve come under criticism. The whole team has but that’s the way of it.
“When the results aren’t good, everyone looks at the leader, who is the manager. And the other leader is me, the captain.
“Then they look at the other big players. That’s part and parcel of it. “We’ve been in the game long enough and we know how to deal with that. It’s about us trying to believe that we can turn a corner now.”
Robertson feels Scotland produced a performance in Lisbon that was worthy of their League A status in the Nations League. A Scott McTominay header had Clarke’s men ahead at half-time before a Bruno Ferndandes strike and Ronaldo’s 901st goal of his career won it for Roberto Martinez’s side.
But Robertson was satisfied that Scotland gave one of Europe’s best a real fright in their own back yard. He said: “We believed in the changing room before the game.
“We believed we could go there and cause them issues and I think we showed that in the game. The way we played, you could see the belief we had.
“Obviously we fell short in the end but if you’re going to get beat against a Pot 1 team like Portugal, that’s the way to do it. I don’t think anyone up in the stands on Sunday night could argue that we didn’t play for the jersey.
“No-one can say we didn’t run as hard as we could or that we didn’t try to create chances. The fans can be proud of us after that.”
