Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Clarke’s not the problem’: Robertson says players must take blame for poor results

Scotland manager Steve Clarke speaks to John McGinn and Andrew Robertson (centre) during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, group I match at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.
Scotland manager Steve Clarke speaks to John McGinn and Andrew Robertson (centre) during the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, group I match at the Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow.

Scotland captain Andy Robertson insists it is the players and not manager Steve Clarke that must take responsibility for their struggles.

A second-half capitulation saw them beaten 4-0 by Russia on Thursday night, making it back-to-back defeats by that scoreline after Belgium scored four at Hampden last month.

It is also four defeats in a row for the national side, having lost to the Belgians in Brussels and then against Stanislav Cherchesov’s team when they came to Glasgow.

Clarke admitted after the latest blow that he hoped Scotland had now reached the “lowest of the low”.

They have won just twice in this Euro 2020 qualifying group, with the last coming in Clarke’s first game in charge against Cyprus. But Robertson, a Champions League winner with Liverpool this year, puts the blame squarely at the door of the players for the current malaise.

He said: “Look at the goals we conceded. It’s not the way we set up that was the issue. It’s down to how many set-pieces we conceded. How many goals we conceded where we gave the ball away.

“The goals we conceded could all be avoided and that’s what needs to stop.

“When you cross the white line the manager’s work is done. Players need to take responsibility.

“For 60 minutes we did that and once we get a setback we didn’t bounce back. It’s his first international job and he has come from club football where he has had week to week to develop players.

“He is trying to cram everything in and so are we. But, yeah, he has come in with an idea of what he wants to do and I think you saw that in the first half in Russia.”

They face San Marino at Hampden tomorrow night, before playing Cyprus away and Kazakhstan at home in their final two group games.

They have already secured a Nations League play-off for next March but are struggling to accrue any sort of momentum heading into those games.

Robertson added: “We need to be better on the ball, we need more composure but defensively I think we showed exactly what the manager sent us out to do.

“He (Clarke) can’t control how or when we concede a goal from a corner. Or the fact we go into our shell a bit and end up three or 4-0 down.

“No-one on the sidelines or the stands can fix that.

“It’s entirely down to the eleven men on the pitch and unfortunately we didn’t do it.”