All hail Steve Clarke's winless wonders - the contradiction at heart of woeful Scotland run as manager gives goalkeeper hint

Billy Gilmour tries to get to grips with Luka Modric as Scotland fell to their latest defeat, this time against Croatia on Saturday (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

What are we to make of this Scotland football team? Play poorly, as against Germany in the summer, they get hammered. Play well, as they have done for long spells of their League A (mis)adventures in the Nations League, and they still lose.

It’s not a good habit to get into. Which brings us to another question – what are we to make of Steve Clarke, who is the manager presiding over this strange and unprecedented chapter in the history of the Scottish international football team. He is the one with whom the buck stops. He is the one who has declared he doesn't care about statistics, which is just as well, because they do not, on the face of it, make for very pretty reading at the present moment.

Being a Scotland fan is a curious existence, more so now than ever. It's certainly not about singing when you're winning because Scotland are not winning. Never mind the Balkans, where Clarke’s side slipped to their latest plucky defeat, this time against Croatia, they have not won anywhere since a ho-hum 2-0 victory over Gibraltar in the Algarve in May. And even that well-a-win’s-a-win success stemmed another run of seven games without one.

Steve Clarke acknowledges the Scotland fans, who are having their patience tested by the current winless run (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

It’s making reflecting on where Scotland are at the present time very difficult indeed because, although the current run is getting longer, and the challenges aren’t getting any easier with Portugal awaiting at Hampden on Tuesday night, Clarke’s team have found some kind of equilibrium.

The 4-2-3-1 formation adopted post-Euros appears to be working, if that’s not too contradictory a statement given current results. Amid all the personnel changes, with it being incumbent to reference Scotland’s dire injury situation in any assessment, the system at least looks sound.

What happens when Kieran Tierney returns remains to be seen and Clarke will hope it’s still his problem to wrestle with. But at the moment, four at the back and Billy Gilmour, who was excellent on Saturday, and Kenny McLean, who is enjoying a new lease of life while edging towards a 50th cap, as sitting midfielders is giving Scotland a base to work from.

Clarke's quiet Scotland revolution will not be televised. As is stands, the Portugal fixture will only be shown on YouTube, as was the case against Croatia. It’s a pity for Clarke, because these green shoots of recovery, perhaps best illustrated by pacey 18-year-old Ben Doak’s promising full debut, might grant him some clemency during this, to use the manager’s own word, “horrible” period.

But if not everyone’s watching, then it’s hard for him to change people’s opinion that it might be time for him to go, if, indeed, it’s not already too late. These critics will understandably point to results and say it can’t go on. One only needs to read the comments under various posts on the SFA’s Scotland national team feed on X. “Tonight wasn’t ours but we look ahead to Tuesday,” was one reasonable communication from the SFA following the 2-1 defeat in Zagreb, but the responses were predictably spiky. “It hasn’t been our night for about two years now, when is it coming?” was one of the milder observations, with many opting for just two words: Clarke out.

That won’t happen before the end of the year, and probably won’t happen as long as Scotland’s World Cup qualifying prospects remain alive. On the subject of looking to the future, at the other end of the scale to Doak, there’s the intriguing question of goalkeeper Craig Gordon’s international career to consider. Has the 41-year-old staked a claim to be considered Scotland’s first choice No 1 having, as expected, let no-one down on Saturday.

He made some decent stops and had no chance with the goals, the second ultimately decisive one having come from the rebound after one of these good saves. As Clarke stressed afterwards, Scotland’s luck has to change soon.

Perhaps it will on Tuesday, when Gordon will win his 77 th cap, taking him above Paul McStay and level with Alex McLeish. After that, who knows? Darren Fletcher’s 80-cap total will be in his sights, perhaps, even, Jim Leighton’s 91. Angus Gunn will presumably be fit by the time of the next double-header against Croatia and Poland but Gordon, if he plays as well this week, will give Clarke a decision to make. The manager made the point that Gordon had made the most of his opportunity against Croatia, along with Doak and John Souttar, in what was the Rangers defender’s first international start for over two years.

"Craig stepped up," he said. "It was normal Craig. Reliable and as you say, dependable. He played well. John Souttar played well, really well. It was nice to see.

“I spoke last night (about it). When these boys get the opportunity, like Craig, John and Ben (Doak), they have grabbed the opportunity, which is great to see."

Clarke and his coaches, with input from the medical team, will assess Doak’s reaction to playing 76 minutes against Croatia before considering whether he starts again on Tuesday. If in condition to do so, then he surely should although Ryan Gauld made a claim to be included in the first XI with his lively cameo after replacing the teenager. Whoever plays, Scotland will hope to catch a break against Ronaldo and co. They deserve to.

As for now, all hail Clarke’s winless wonders. An hour of reckoning will undoubtedly come if this run continues getting worse. But despite everything, and with Hampden all but sold-out for the visit of Portugal, that doesn’t feel imminent yet.