Former Scotland captain Charlie Mulgrew has questioned whether Steve Clarke would be comfortable changing his style of play after observing that the national team “failed to compete” at Euro 2024.
Mulgrew felt Clarke’s team were trying to avoid defeat rather than going for victory while finishing bottom of Group A.
In many metrics, Scotland were the worst performing team of the 24 in the group stage and seeing Georgia qualify on Wednesday, 12 months after Clarke’s side comfortably beat them at Hampden, has sharpened many fans’ sense that the Germany campaign was a missed opportunity.
Scotland’s record of one point with a minus five goal difference was the worst and only Serbia scored less goals than the Scots, who scored from Antonio Rudiger’s own goal against Germany and Scott McTominay’s deflected strike in the 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
Scotland’s total of 16 attempts at goal was comfortably lowest and only three of their shots were on target, again a clear low. UEFA’s official statistics recorded 76 Scotland attacks, only one more than Albania at the bottom of the 24 teams.
Scotland were even bottom of the table for recovering possession.
Mulgrew, who was speaking at the William Hill SPFL fixtures launch, said: “I think firstly we need to be thankful for Steve Clarke and the players and everybody involved with Scotland for getting us to two tournaments. We’ve not been there in 25 years and we’ve been in the last two Euros, which is brilliant. So we can’t lose sight of that.
“But then once you get there, naturally you want to compete and we’ve not competed. That’s the most disappointing thing.
“I feel like we’re trying not to lose rather than trying to win, which is not the way I see the game. I suppose that’s Steve Clarke style, but I’m sure he’ll admit he’s still disappointed with how it went.”
Mulgrew, who won 44 caps, added: “As a coach, you can’t teach what you don’t believe. So if he doesn’t believe in that style, then you can’t change.
“When I say ‘style’, I mean Scotland have proved that they can press high. Against Switzerland there was a lot of positives. I was at the game, I watched it closely. When we pressed, we went three for three at the back and we pushed right on.
“That showed a lot of bravery from the manager and from the players. They pressed up high, it was great to see. Switzerland couldn’t get out a lot of time. Of course, there’s a bit of risk involved in case they do get out, and then they’re in your half and they’re attacking you in numbers. There’s a lot of rewards for the risk if you win the ball high up, which we did a lot of the time.
“But in terms of having possession, I think we could be better at that. And I think our positioning as a team, as players, that’s how we can be better in possession.
“But if you don’t believe in the positioning thing, and if you don’t want to have possession, it’s hard to then teach that if you don’t think it. And every manager has got their own way of doing it.
“Steve Clarke’s been successful doing it his way so who am I to say it should change?”
Much soul-searching has gone on from people invested in the success of Scottish football since the defeats by Germany and Hungary, and Mulgrew is hoping to do his bit for the game in his new role as Hamilton Under-18s coach.
The former Celtic player said: “Hamilton obviously do give their youth a chance, that’s the way they run the club. So hopefully I can have boys that can get in the first team and get playing regularly and go on and have great careers. That’s my main aim.
“I want to have an 18s team that knows exactly what their job is, have the freedom to go and express themselves, and I want to push them into the first team. I’d love to see young Scottish players getting a chance.”