Steve Clarke abruptly sidesteps Thomas Tuchel England inquiry in live interview

SCOTLAND boss Steve Clarke was having none of it when asked by a reporter to give his opinion on Thomas Tuchel’s imminent appointment as England manager.

The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich man has agreed a deal to take over as Gareth Southgate‘s permanent replacement with England – with the announcement set to be confirmed on Wednesday morning.

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Clarke, though, was speaking in the immediate after glow of what was a huge result for his team, a goalless draw against Portugal.

Asked for an opinion on Thomas Tuchel‘s appointment as England manager, he gave short shift to a reporter in a conference which was aired live across the nation.

With a smile, Clarke said: “I don’t have one, I’m the Scotland manager.”

The Scotland boss was generally delighted with his team after they got the luck which they’ve been missing on their three previous outings in this competition to date.

Clarke – who saw Scott McTominay miss a glorious early chance before Craig Gordon’s brilliant late save secured a point – said: “We deserved this after the work we’ve put in to get the Nations League off and running.

“Defensively we were sound, we denied them space in behind, we concentrated well in the box, made some really good blocks and when we needed a big save, the goalkeeper was there.

“It’s the first time in a long time I’ve celebrated a save! I’ve always said Craig’s the ultimate professional and you saw that again here.

“But everyone contributed.

“Nicky Devlin‘s come on at the end for his first cap and got us a point with a block. He was brave and it was a fantastic moment.

“I also thought John Souttar and Grant Hanley were excellent. But you have to praise so many players, like Tony Ralston who did well first against Jota and Mendes and later on Leao – I think him coming on did for his calves!

“Recently we’ve had lapses that cost you dear and maybe this time we got a little bit fortunate, but we’ve worked hard to earn those breaks.

“Everyone talks about their confidence, but the confidence has always been there.

“We maybe didn’t do as much with the ball as on Saturday, but that point against one of the best sides in Europe will give us even more confidence.

“We’ll go into the next double-header wanting to get even more points.”

Portuguese coach Roberto Martinez said he had no idea why Ronaldo stormed off at full-time while the rest of the side went to thank their supporters at the other end of the stadium.

He said: “I don’t know, I didn’t see. But I’ll find out.:

Then he praised the Scots, saying: “They have rapid attacking players and were always dangerous on the counter-attack.

“They did well, they blocked five of our shots and their goalkeeper had some good saves.

“They kept a lot of men behind the ball, but the balance is that we couldn’t allow them to play their own game and we did that well.

“A lot was missing from us, especially in front of goal. We didn’t look fresh.

“We controlled the game and got into the final third an awful lot of times, three really good chances off the top of my head.

“We just missed some precision when the final ball came.”

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