Bristol City defender sends Euro 2024 message to Scotland boss Steve Clarke over Tommy Conway

Bristol City defender Kal Naismith has backed teammate Tommy Conway to make an impact at Euro 2024, believing the Robins frontman has the necessary arrogance and self-belief to salvage Scotland’s tournament.

The Tartan Army were placed immediately on the back foot in Group A as they were on the end of a 5-1 shellacking at the hands of hosts Germany, with Conway an unused substitute as Steve Clarke started Che Adams and then brought Lawrence Shankland off the bench.

Scotland have two more group games to try and reach the last 16, with Switzerland on Wednesday and then Hungary on Sunday, but with three teams potentially qualifying, despite the margin and nature of defeat to Germany, they remain very much in the competition.

They will need to show a far greater attacking intent than they displayed at the Allianz Arena on Friday night with their only goal of the game coming via Germany defender Antonio Rudiger, and Naismith is confident Conway has what it takes to succeed.

Shankland looks set to start against the Swiss, after Adams was largely an irrelevance during his 45 minutes on the field, and although the 21-year-old Robin only earned his first cap earlier this month, his attitude should be of a much more seasoned professional.

“Tommy is a confident boy, he’s got that arrogance you need to be a top player,” Naismith told the Daily Record. “His first year training with the first team was my first season at Bristol City.

“Right away, I thought: ‘Who is this wee guy?’ It was as if he’d been with us for years. He just had that arrogance that said: ‘I’m the best.’ That’s the way Tommy has been ever since.

“Straight away he was telling senior boys that he wanted to be on penalties and free-kicks. He saw himself as the main man. And if you’re going to make it you need that attitude and belief in your own ability.

“He wasn’t born in Scotland but has that gallusness about him. He’s sure of himself and has all the banter. He’ll have fitted straight in with the Scottish lads, that’s just the way he is.”

Clarke getting Conway on the field could not only be beneficial for Scotland but also City, given his contract status and the recognition from within Ashton Gate that the striker will have to be sold this summer.

Conway is approaching the last 12 months of his contract in BS3 and has shown no indication he plans to accept the club’s latest offer to him, which means the Robins either take what they can get in this window or lose him for mere compensation in 2025.

Therefore a positive performance in Germany could aid that process by boosting his reputation and perhaps cement some opinions from various club officials who are maybe reluctant to pull the trigger on a transfer due to his experience only being within the Championship.

“He’s clever in his link-up play but his biggest attribute is his finishing. He’s deadly. Left or right foot, he’s explosive. And he’s good in the air too. If he gets a chance in Germany, even just a sniff, I would back him to score,” Naismith added. “Getting thrown off the bench at the Euros won’t faze Tommy. He’ll be nervous – anyone would on that stage – but he will relish it as well. He’ll fancy himself to score in every game because he has that arrogance.”

Clarke’s need to make changes puts Conway and City teammate Ross McCrorie in the picture to be involved against the Swiss, particularly the latter given how much Celtic’s Anthony Ralston struggled on the right-hand side of defence.

Clarke has claimed that he may have been guilty in overloading his players with information in the build-up to the Germany game, something he’s looking to address in time for Wednesday’s encounter in which the Scots must at least claim a draw.

“I've spoken to the players about what I feel was wrong from my side and what I gave them,” said Clarke. “I think their interpretation of what we asked them to do was wrong, so we've worked on that.

“I had a little chat with a lot of them on the training pitch this morning. Just to try to put one or two things in their head about things they maybe didn't do on the pitch that they should have done.

“We believe in ourselves - we know it was a bad night. We have to accept all the criticism that comes our way and then we have to put it right. To be in football, you have to be very resilient.”

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