How Steve Clarke will deal with Scotland's looming Euro 2024 deadline, squad's nerves and striker's positioning

The hour of reckoning is approaching. Not just with regards to next week’s Euro 2024 opening game against Germany, but also Friday night’s squad deadline.

Steve Clarke has urged for some grace to be extended to his players in the aftermath of Monday evening’s less than rousing 2-0 warm-up win over Gibraltar in the Algarve.

They are only human, he argues. They know the eyes of Europe will be on them a week come Friday. Some fear they will be among those watching from home as Clarke ponders who will and will not make the cut, with 26-man squads required to be submitted by 11pm on Friday. They have also been “spooked” – the manager’s word – by what happened to Lyndon Dykes last Friday.

Scotland manager Steve Clarke has decisions to make over the coming days.

Apprehension was clearly a factor in the less than convincing performance against the Gibraltarians. No one wished to see their Euro 2024 dream come to grief on such a low-key occasion. While the manager had promised “100 per cent commitment” on the eve of the fixture, he always knew he could not guarantee it. The same applies for Friday night’s final friendly against Finland, although, with a near-full house expected, the players’ blood will be up.

They will certainly be more engaged than was obvious against Gibraltar. Clarke spelled out the reasons for mitigation. His players are vulnerable to the same emotions as everyone else. They aren’t always who they seem when larking around on SFA Tiktok videos. They are not just stickers in a Panini book.

“Don’t forget these players are nervous,” he said. “They have the biggest tournament coming up for the country next week. They all have half a mind on Germany already. It sounds terrible to say that, but that’s just the way it is. It’s natural. They want to go on the plane, flying to Germany for the Euros and they are involved in what’s going to be a fantastic tournament in the summer so you have to make allowances for that.

“People won’t think of that. They just think of the excitement … but until you are actually on the plane and on the way to Germany there is always a doubt in the back of your mind … you have to understand. They are human, they have emotions like everybody else.”

Scotland will help Lawrence Shankland out of his striking rut.

Monday's paltry performance could be posited as further evidence of the connection between the national team and supporters, something Clarke has mentioned several times in the past. A smaller than normal Tartan Army cadre had made the trip in order to keep their powder dry and bank balances in the black for Germany. Scotland duly made sure those who remained at home didn’t feel like they had missed anything.

Only around 650 Tartan Army travelled to southern Portugal although 1,500 tickets were available, meaning it was one of Scotland’s lowest ever attended matches outwith the Covid era. The pre-Euro 2020 friendly against Luxembourg was watched by around 1,000 people as Scotland posted an unconvincing 1-0 win in their final game before the tournament kicked off. The hope back then was that it would be alright on the night too – or at least afternoon, which was when Scotland kicked off their first major finals game since 1998. It wasn’t. Clarke’s side lost 2-0 against Czech Republic.

Scoring goal remains a problem three years later. Indeed, it is now a more significant one. Che Adams is still the great hope. The manager could decide to leave him out completely against Finland to preserve him for when the real action starts.

Something hit Clarke straight between the eyes as he watched Monday night’s victory from his seat in the stand. It wasn’t the ball, although it might have been had he been sitting behind the goal Scotland were attacking in the first half. What it was was the thumping realisation that Adams is the only choice to start up front against Germany – fitness permitting, of course.

Kenny McLean of Scotland is challenged by Jack Sergeant of Gibraltar.

It was easy to understand Clarke’s thinking with regards to playing Lawrence Shankland for the duration against Gibraltar. He desperately needs an international goal after that miss against the Netherlands in March. A full run-out against the semi-pros of a team ranked 203 in the world might have been expected to produce one, at least. The goalkeeper plays for a team called Bruno’s Magpies. It turned out it was also his debut.

Sadly, Shankland could not deliver. He snatched at one chance, sending it high into the bank of seats behind the goal He delayed pulling the trigger on another occasion, laying the ball off to a teammate instead. He looks ponderous and unthreatening – the opposite of what he is in a Hearts jersey.

It’s now ten caps and two goals for Shankland, a relatively paltry return in comparison to his prodigious figures for his club. Clarke believes he might have a solution to Shankland’s woes and the striker wasn’t alone in wasting chances, or, at least, half chances. “I think it comes down a little bit to confidence,” he said. “People are searching for confidence. Shanks didn’t really have any clear-cut chances where you are thinking, ‘go on, he’s getting there.’ It’s maybe something we need to look at – his positioning, especially on set plays where he was maybe too far out from the centre of goal.”

Shankland will almost certainly come good. At least he knows he’s on the plane. “I will be speaking to the players concerned they are not going to be in the 26 before the Friday game,” said Clarke, as he explained the bleak process of perming one player from the current group of 27, with Under-21 striker Tommy Conway having been brought in. The Bristol City striker is, in effect, only replacing Ben Doak, who has dropped out having lost his battle for fitness.

Liam Cooper’s injury is still being assessed. Clarke might yet be spared having to make a decision.

“You could tell someone on Thursday they are not going and then we pick up an injury on the Friday and you have to give them a cuddle and say, ‘I love you, you’re going,’” he said. “It’s strange that they make us do it like this. But we will find a way.”