Steve Clarke doesn’t tend to dish out praise lightly, so on the occasions that he does, it’s worth paying attention.
Especially when that praise follows a 4-0 defeat.
Scotland earned many plaudits for their general play in the March friendly against the Netherlands in Amsterdam, but the late collapse that turned 1-0 into 4-0 did hurt. It was maybe no coincidence that Billy Gilmour – arguably the best player on the pitch that night – had been withdrawn before the landslide. Between bemoaning moments of slackness and emphasising the need to learn lessons from this exposure to ruthless, elite opponents, Clarke was unusually effusive in his praise of the Brighton midfielder.