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Scotland captain Andy Robertson says team will 'have to suffer' to get result against talented Belgium
Pain has been such a constant for Scotland players and their fans over the last two decades that the wonder is that Hampden Park has not cashed in by incorporating a dungeon complete with dominatrix. Capacity to absorb suffering will, nevertheless, be crucial to the Scots’ chances of leaving Brussels with any sort of reward when Steve Clarke’s players face Belgium in their Euro 2020 qualifier on Tuesday night.
Prior to Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Cyprus at Hampden, where he was in charge of Scotland for the first time, Clarke referred frequently to the tonic effect of having in his ranks a Champions League winner in the form of Andy Robertson. The obverse of that coin, though, is the intimidating spectacle of a Belgian side stuffed with top-rank players whose combined talents have taken them to the pinnacle of the Fifa world rankings and kept them there.
Asked if he anticipated that the Scots’ principal task in this contest will be to absorb a pummelling in every position, Robertson agreed, but with the significant caveat that even Liverpool, in their capacity as European champions, are obliged to roll with the punches frequently. “At times in the final against Tottenham that was what happened,” the Scotland captain said.
“We had to sit in our shape. Our manager (Jurgen Klopp) is obviously big on attacking play but he also says you have to suffer in games. Scotland will probably have to suffer a lot longer than a team like Liverpool do but we all have to suffer in a game if that is what you have to do. We can’t afford to get frustrated – especially we can’t get frustrated at frustrating them.”
Clarke has already demonstrated his ability to discomfit superior opponents on the domestic scene, guiding Kilmarnock to four wins and four draws from 11 meetings with Rangers and three wins and two draws from eight games against Celtic in his time at Rugby Park, but the manager was not inclined to identify any singular element in his approach to such games.
“Taking Kilmarnock to places like Ibrox and Celtic Park and competing well is always good but this is a different challenge and a different level,” Clarke said. “It’s one I’m looking forward to and I hope the players are looking forward to it as much as I am.
“I tried to prepare for every game pretty much the same, no matter the level of the opponent. Maybe that helps - maybe they see that I prepare for every game exactly the same way. I don’t make an extra special mention of this, that or the other, but I don’t think there’s anything special that I do that makes it different.
“It’s certainly an extra pressure when everyone’s looking at you and thinking you’re doing something really special. The backing I’ve had since I was appointed has been fantastic and I hope it lasts a lot longer than tomorrow night but you are always beholden to your players.
“They will decide if you are a good coach or a good manager. I think I’ve got a group of players who have been very responsive to what I’ve said to them so far and hopefully they can continue to fool people that I am actually quite good at my job.”
One school of thought has it that Clarke would have been better served having to deal with these games while the season was still in full swing. Typically, he identified a positive about addressing the challenge in what, for most players, is holiday time.
“Well, they know that after the final whistle they’ll get a break so there’s no reason not to leave everything on the park,” Clarke said. “You just take the fixtures as they come. I imagine the logic was to start with the three games we’ve had and hopefully have seven or nine points.
“We’ve only got six so we’re chasing. Then you have the two bigger teams in the group in the next four games and we have to look to get points out of those two games.”
Barring a couple of minor niggles which should have cleared by kick-off, Clarke has a full squad and the line-up should resemble Saturday’s, although there is scope for Stuart Armstrong and Scott McTominay to feature in midfield, while the manager was sufficiently impressed by Eamonn Brophy’s international debut against Cyprus that he is minded to start him again.
“You always have to be hard to beat, that’s the starting point,” Clarke said. “Tomorrow it has to be a game almost without defensive mistakes and that’s a very big ask. I look forward to seeing if they can do it.”
Belgium (probable) (3-4-2-1): Courtois; Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Kompany; Castagne, De Bruyne, Witsel, T Hazard; E Hazard, Mertens; Lukaku
Scotland: (probable) (4-3-3): Marshall: O’Donnell, Mulgrew, McKenna, Robertson; McGinn, McTominay, Armstrong; Forrest, Burke, Fraser
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