Steve Clarke can go back to the future to solve our goalkeeper problem says Boyd

SCOTLAND fans want Steve Clarke to look to the future with his team selection.

But when it comes to the No 1 position, I wonder whether he should look to the past and bring Craig Gordon back.

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Over the next five Nations League games, I agree that some of our top youngsters should be blooded as much as possible.

It’s important that guys like Ben Doak, Tommy Conway and Max Johnston get minutes into their legs at international level.

The goalkeeping position is different. That can be taken in isolation and there’s no doubt Angus Gunn’s Scotland form has dipped.

Poland’s opener was a great strike from Sebastian Szymanski, but the Norwich keeper should be saving it.

Would Gordon have kept it out? I believe he would.

And even though he’s now 41, I wonder if he could return to the Scotland fold next month.

The most important man in your team is the No 9. After that, it’s the No 1 and Clarke may have a big decision to make.

Big Craigie isn’t a robot. He can’t go on forever and looking back to the Euros, I understood the decision to leave him out.

Back then, he wasn’t getting in the Hearts team ahead of Zander Clark and had barely played in 18 months after his double leg break.

But now he is back in the Tynecastle side and that changes everything.

Gordon has been clear that he remains available for Scotland and I would not be against that.

Clarke has to find a way to stop the team leaking goals because 31 in the last 13 games is far too many.

Scotland’s success has been built on being solid and hard to beat, first and foremost.

But over the last year, that hasn’t been the case. Whether it’s been individual mistakes or poor defending, it’s killing the team.

The Poland game summed it up. Kenny McLean played a poor pass for the first goal, but Gunn should have done better with the shot.

As for the two penalties? I’m sorry, but those were the tackles of two guys who haven’t been playing regularly at club level.

Anthony Ralston and Grant Hanley aren’t first-picks at Celtic and Norwich right now and it showed.

They lacked that sharpness you need at international level and got punished for it.

Playing for your country when you don’t get a game for your club is tough.

Ralston and Hanley will always give their all for Scotland, but you could tell they weren’t fully at it with those decisions at the penalty incidents.

I felt for Scotland because there was no way they deserved to lose the game.

Poland have good players, but after being pegged back to 2-2, they would have taken the draw.

Instead, Scotland gift-wrapped a win that does nothing to ease the feeling of negativity towards the national team.

I don’t agree with the level of criticism Clarke and his players have been taking.

These guys have delivered back-to-back qualification for the Euros and have given the fans some great nights.

The summer couldn’t have gone any worse and there’s no disguising that Scotland are on an awful run.

Even since qualifying for Germany, nothing has really gone right.

The team took it’s foot off the gas in the last few group games and has never been able to reach the heights of that famous win over Spain at Hampden.

Injuries haven’t helped and let’s not forget that Clarke was without the likes of Kieran Tierney, Aaron Hickey and Nathan Patterson on Thursday.

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At least two of those players would be guaranteed starters at the back and that would help on the defensive side.

But it feels to me right now that everything is being scrutinised in minute detail.

There’s a lot of focus on Clarke’s demeanour and tone in press conferences as the poor form continues.

Trust me, having worked under Steve at Kilmarnock, that’s just how he is. Even when you’re winning, you can think he’s in a mood.

I really hope he can turn things around quickly and start getting wins on the board again.

Clarke has been a successful Scotland manager and there’s no doubt in my mind he deserves the chance to lead us into the World Cup qualifiers.

But it does seem like a section of the Tartan Army are ready to turn on him and I don’t like the feeling towards the national team right now.

It’s one win in 13 and you look at the next five fixtures and wonder where another one is going to come from.

Scotland have Portugal and Croatia away, before playing them both at home ahead of a trip to Poland in November.

Looking at that schedule, one win in 13 could easily become one win in 18.

But Clarke has shown in the past that he is more than capable of upsetting the odds and pulling off the kind of result we need.

Let’s hope that’s the case again — starting in Lisbon on Sunday night.

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