Hampden Park Scotland
Hampden Park Scotland

Scotland suffered a 2-0 loss in their opening game of the European Championship and next up, they take on England at Wembley.

Scotland will need to pick up a win if they wish to keep their hopes of going to the knockout stages alive and according to pundit Martin Keown, manager Steve Clarke will have to readjust a few things which he had gotten wrong during the Czech Republic game.

He told the BBC: “Scotland are capable of playing good football but they didn’t set up to do that against the Czech Republic. They were very direct.

“I was quite shocked and surprised how often Scotland went long in that game. Especially in the first half, every time the keeper David Marshall got it, he launched it.

“Scotland’s biggest threat is Andrew Robertson going down the left-hand side. He created six chances in Monday’s game on his own, and he is very dangerous, but they don’t have the same down the right and it makes them a little bit one-dimensional.

“They have to hope that Kieran Tierney is fit because he and Robertson take it in turns to charge forward down that flank. I watched them in their 2-2 friendly draw with the Netherlands at the start of the month and it was almost as if they were exchanging a relay baton.

“But one of the mistakes they made against the Czechs was that they were too physical. The two Czech centre-halves were eating up a lot of those long balls, and Scotland did not show much quality or composure in the final third.

“Clarke said afterwards that this tournament is a learning experience for them – well, we are going to find out how much they have learned from their opener.”

Scotland did not play bad against the Czech Republic but in the end, they did not have much to show for their endeavours. While Clarke and his players will take a lot of heart from that performance but in the end, it’s the goals that count.

The manager are expected to make a few changes to his starting line-up on Friday and if they can push hard enough then we feel an early goal is up for grabs.

But having said all this, England are a far superior side and unless there’s a major blunder from the English players, we really do not see Scotland coming out of this match with all three points.

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