KT, Robbo and Scotland’s agents of chaos. Or how a return to Steve Clarke’s favourite dynamic shape – a formation that rewards the all-action mayhem of our best midfield runners – put our boys on track for a winning start to their Euro 2024 campaign.
In an imperfect performance that yielded a perfect result for Clarke’s men, there was still plenty to savour. Not least in the mischief-making qualities of Scotland’s most creative players. Including, obviously, the best overlapping, underlapping, free-running centre-half in world football. Kieran Tierney’s understanding with captain Andy Robertson is, of course, key to making Scotland’s 3-4-2-1 set-up such a pain in the backside for opponents. Throw in a genuine game breaker like Stuart Armstrong, whose clever support running and exploiting of space gave Cyprus no end of headaches, and you can see why the home side were so good down the left side in particular.
We could have picked any one of half a dozen screenshots to show just how effective this trio were but, really, their role in the opening goal summed it up rather neatly.
Armstrong, having ambled into position to receive the ball from Tierney, looking up to find Robbo exactly where he should be – on the shoulder of the last man. Half a heartbeat later, Armstrong has played the ball in for Robertson to cross … leaving John McGinn to do apply the finish.
Ah yes, McGinn. When you talk about chaos, in a good way, he’s top of everyone’s list. Quite apart from his nose for a goal, his ability to drag defenders out of position, spin and punish them for their rashness is absolutely top notch (as McGinn and Adams almost combine for a second).
Any team lining up with just one recognised striker has to rely on midfielders – or others – to get beyond the centre-forward regularly. Clarke is blessed with guys who love doing just that. And he makes liberal use of them as a way of keeping opponents off balance.
Cyprus were never going to be the most expansive visitors to Hampden. And they made life difficult enough for Scotland at times, particularly during a scrappy spell early in the second half, when there often appeared an impenetrable wall of white shirts between our key passers and the danger men capable of wreaking havoc in the final third.
But Scotland’s pressing was excellent, meaning Cyprus were given few opportunities to express themselves. And the harassing, haranguing play of sub Ryan Christie – who came onto the pitch toting hand grenades to be dropped all over the visitors’ backline – leading to an overdue second goal for the hosts.
They more than deserved to go 2-0 up, even without factoring in the quality of the goal, from Christie’s cross to Lyndon Dykes’ cushioned header, finished off beautifully by Scott McTominay, whose introduction added yet another terrifying midfield threat to the Scotland armoury. Just look at the ground the Manchester United player makes up to get the first of his two goals on the day.
There was plenty to admire about Scotland’s attitude on a day when the atmosphere never got even close to fever pitch, with the fact that we had four bodies in the box for the late third goal – including skipper Robbo – speaking volumes for the enthusiasm, energy and comfort in a system that gets the best out of so many key players.
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