Scotland team to play Greece: Steve Clarke could turn to unloved system - or is there a more palatable plan

A nation is preparing to sit down to watch a game likely to draw the largest audience of any since BBC Scotland began showing men's international fixtures live again. There is, alas, a slight flea in the ointment. Donald Trump is considering issuing the Beeb with a £1 billion writ that would seriously compromise its activities.

Has POTUS, who is half-Scottish remember, even considered the potential consequences? Whichever way the controversy plays out vis-à-vis a litigious president, the assumption must be that it won’t affect the Saturday night schedule on BBC Scotland. Liam McLeod and co will be in situ in Piraeus, where Scotland face a crunch World Cup qualifier against Greece.

It’s therefore still entertaining to imagine the scene in those living rooms when the team news is flashed up and yes, Steve Clarke has opted for five-at-the-back. Cue teacups, remote controls, cans of Tennent’s, whatever is at hand, flying through the air towards television screens across the land.

The manager was at his taciturn best at Hampden last week. Given that a draw suits Scotland’s needs as much as a win, he was asked whether he might consider reverting to a much stigmatised, ostensibly more secure system of three centre-halves against Greece. “Maybe, is the short answer,” he said. He then expanded – marginally - on this answer.

“Listen, we have to go there and we have to get a result," he added. "If you go there and camp in on the edge of the box for 97, 98 minutes, you probably won't get that result.”

Enlightening? Hardly. But he didn’t dismiss the possibility out of hand. He may well conclude that it isn’t worth the hassle, that reverting to a formation with such doom-laden associations with Euro 2024 is an immediate buzzkill ahead of such a critical fixture. Clarke has felt bold enough to play three centre-halves on just one occasion since that ill-fated mission to Germany - in a friendly against Iceland in June. Any reassessment of the effectiveness or otherwise of such a shape was rendered meaningless by a game where an inexperienced goalkeeper’s mistakes were the dominant influence on the result. Poor Cieran Slicker was unfairly thrust into the spotlight after Angus Gunn rolled his ankle. Alternative deputy Robby McCrorie had already suffered an injury during the warm-up.

System that Craig Brown built his Scotland success on

It meant Clarke’s reaction to having Kieran Tierney available again – he deployed him on the left of a three-man central defence - went somewhat under the radar. Both Tierney and Robertson are again available this weekend although the debate has moved on. It’s not so much a question of needing to crowbar Tierney into the team. That ship has sailed. In fact, it will be a surprise if he features in the starting XI. But that’s not to say Clarke isn't pondering playing three centre-halves.

In a way, it’s strange why this arrangement is now so unloved by Scotland supporters. The system was the sturdy platform on which Craig Brown built his side the last time the Scotland men's team qualified for a World Cup. Football has moved on in the subsequent three decades although the same basic reasoning applies: three defenders in front of the goalkeeper offers more security.

Clarke may feel forced to hinge his entire tactical outlook on one very significant issue. The goalkeeper situation is bound to dominate his thoughts. Risk is attached to whoever plays out of Craig Gordon, Scott Bain and Liam Kelly. Gordon, the likelier choice, cannot hope to be as sharp as he would like to be having not played a game of competitive football for six months. The same applies to Kelly, who’s appeared just once at first-team level this season. Bain, while at least match ready, has been absent from the international scene for a long six years.

Clarke will be mindful of the need to provide whoever plays with greater protection. Does that mean Scott McKenna joining Grant Hanley and John Souttar in a back line augmented by wing backs in Robertson and Aaron Hickey? Not wishing to ruin your breakfast, or whenever you’re reading this, it might.

Perhaps a more digestible plan to secure the point required to set-up a veritable cup final against Denmark is the way Clarke chose to set up in the opening qualifier against the Danes. That, too, was a daunting assignment away from home. That, too, saw focus trained on a rusty goalkeeper in Gunn.

Clarke sprang a surprise by fielding two strikers, in Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes. He kept a back four and played Scott McTominay in a more withdrawn role in front of the defence, alongside Lewis Ferguson. Adams was deployed in a No 10 role, with John McGinn and Ryan Christie either side of him. While available, Billy Gilmour – injured for this weekend – was left out as the Scots secured a deserved 0-0 draw.

Although it doesn’t guarantee the same outcome, the same players, barring Gunn, are all at Clarke’s disposal again ahead of Saturday. It would mean fans' favourite Ben Gannon-Doak misses out but then he was playing while the Greeks were ripping Scotland apart last month at Hampden and had been replaced, by Gilmour, before the late turnaround.

Clarke must try something different given Greece have held the upper hand in all three meetings this year, despite losing two of them. He might be cognisant of the fact that two of his side’s finest away performances, goalless draws against Denmark in September and at Wembley against England at Euro 2021, saw Dykes and Adams both included from the start.

For what it’s worth, I’d take Copenhagen as the template, meaning: Gordon; Hickey, Souttar, Hanley, Robertson; McTominay, Ferguson; Christie, McGinn, Adams; Dykes. But it’s all about someone whose opinion really matters. And that’s Clarke, not Trump.