Steve Clarke seeks Scotland reaction to 'bump in the road' as heavy Greece defeat leads to frank squad admission

Despondent Steve Clarke has challenged his Scotland squad to react positively from their UEFA Nations League relegation after succumbing to a heavy 3-0 defeat against Greece in their play-off second leg.

Despite leading the tie 1-0 on aggregate following an impressive victory in Piraeus on Thursday night, the Scots produced a woeful Hampden performance that propelled their opponents into the top tier of the competition for the first time thanks to goals from Giannis Konstantelias, Konstantinos Karetsas and Christos Tzolis.

“Obviously, disappointed,” Clarke reflected. “If you look at the performance, we didn’t have enough energy in the team. Greece had more energy, so the best team won on the night.

James Wilson looks dejected after Scotland's defeat in the UEFA Nations League 2024/25 League A/B Play-offs Second Leg against Greece | Getty Images

“Yeah, I’m sure (the players will be hurting). Listen, to finish such a positive Nations League campaign on such a low blow, a poor performance is something that will hurt them. They’ll go away and have plenty of time to stew on it before our next competitive game. We’ve got two friendlies in June where we have to address one or two things and try to do better going forward.

“I wasn’t overly disappointed with the defenders. I thought the back four did reasonably OK, but we didn’t defend as a team. On Thursday night in Greece, we defended as a team from back to front. We didn’t do that in this game and that’s why we got punished.”

Clarke decided to make just one change from Thursday’s 1-0 first leg victory, opting to start Ryan Christie in place of Lewis Ferguson.

Quizzed on whether he could have freshened up his starting eleven more, Clarke responded: “It’s possible. With hindsight, everything’s possible. The boys showed me that they were fit and well (after Thursday). I think the first goal gave them (Greece) a lift and after that it became a long night for us. We could’ve done with a few more legs in the team, if I’m being honest.”

Pressed further on why he felt his side lacked the energy required to build the positive result in Piraeus, Clarke elaborated: “I think it might work in our favour because we have to make a similar trip again in November. It’s something we might need to look at, we go out there and put in a big shift. You then have the long travel back and maybe we didn’t quite recover well enough in time. It’s something I can certainly look at and try to address.

“We’ve had a decent run. This is a bump in the road. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over my time in charge of the national team is that there are bumps in the road. It’s about how you react to it. We have to make sure come June we know what we need to address and come September we know what we we want to do which is qualify for the World Cup.”

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