The thankless task of being a Scotland striker

Date: Monday, September 8th, 2019 HST: 19:45 BST

Who would play for Scotland?

The supporters still gave Che Adams and Lyndon Dykes plenty of attention even after Steve Clarke’s side defeated Group C’s top seeds Denmark to earn a potentially priceless away point.

They don’t achieve their goals. They lack sufficient power. They are insufficient.

Following the opening of six World Cup qualifiers, the pair were pelted by a number of different factors. However, the determined duo fought hard, disarmed the Danish defense, and pushed the Scots into Copenhagen.

Former Scotland striker, BBC Sport Scotland presenter, and pundit Steven Thompson is a man who is aware of both the criticism and the reality.

Thompson told the BBC, “They did what they needed to do for the team.” They put in a lot of effort, created opportunities, and had a phenomenal work-rate.

According to the above graphic, Clarke’s strikers were among the ones chosen to start in Copenhagen and were voted among the lowest by the BBC Sport audience. Only the top 10 scorers went to substitutes.

When asked about Clarke’s unusual duo deployment, he responded, “If I’m not brave, I might as well not be in the job.”

The winner in this situation was the Scotland head coach, and fortune favors the brave.

In Birmingham City’s first four games, Dykes has played a scant 23 Championship minutes while Dykes has come off the bench in Torino’s first two Serie A games.

Their exuberance couldn’t be refuted, despite the fact that rust was occasionally present.

Particularly Dykes was a threat. In a dark blue jersey, he was full of commitment, challenged for every long ball, gave his team-mates a target, and preoccupied the Danish defense. His best days were a throwback.

When a striker isn’t scoring, it seems like the majority of that work is unmasked.

Since starting the infamous comeback against Norway in Oslo more than two years ago, Dykes hasn’t scored an international goal.

Adams scored against Gibraltar before the Euros, but his hat-trick against Liechtenstein in June, which was his first Scotland goal in less than a year.

They require service, which there wasn’t much, but what I saw as a former employee and what Clarke saw was their work ethic and output beyond just scoring goals. And it is a lot.

“I thought they did a good job of it, especially Dykes,” I thought.

“They worked well and didn’t let the Denmark defensemen have a good night.” They moved around physically and physically.

Dykes’ seven aerial duels were won by Adams, who won two of his six. Dykes completed eight of Adams’ ten passes, while Dykes completed eight of his ten.

The Torino striker had two attempts, one of which should have broken the deadlock, while coming agonisingly close to latching on to a teasing Ryan Christie cross.

His partner up front slipped through him, but it was mysteriously delayed, allowing Danish defender Rasmus Kristensen to scurry back and block the shot.

Later, Dykes later expressed his thoughts as “he puts it through the defender’s legs and took a good touch and have a shot.”

“The defender was so close to me when I took the touch, which is a little wider than I wanted, but I took the shot and he blocked it.” Maybe it goes under his legs and into the bottom corner on another day.

Notable is the plural nature of that question.

A goal or two against pot four side Belarus on Monday, a game live on the BBC, would be nice if Clarke were to stick with his two-up approach.

After the exertions in Copenhagen, many will acknowledge that it’s a different test that might require a different setup and possibly different people.

Many fans were anticipating Kieron Bowie’s spot-on starting XI for Hibernian despite the annoyance at Clarke’s ultimately spot-on starting lineup on Friday.

The 22-year-old has scored twice in three Scottish Premiership games and qualified for Conference League play against Partizan, which is a great start to the season.

Thompson wants to see the Easter Road take off in Hungary on Monday, believing Bowie to be the “most all-round striker” of the three.