SCOTLAND manager Steve Clarke tonight played down the angry exchange of words he was involved in with his set-piece coach Austin MacPhee during the 5-1 defeat to Germany as he urged the Tartan Army to keep faith in his side.

Clarke gave former Hearts caretaker manager MacPhee a verbal volley in his technical area during the second-half of the opening Group A match in the Allianz Arena in Munich after his team had taken a free-kick.

However, he brushed aside the incident following the humiliating reverse and expressed hope that Andy Robertson and his team mates can still bounce back and secure the four points they need to progress to the knockout rounds.

The 60-year-old, whose centre-half Ryan Porteous was sent off for a rash challenge on German captain Ilkay Gundogan in added-on time at the end of the first-half, has targeted an improved display against Switzerland in Cologne on Wednesday and Hungary in Stuttgart the following Sunday. 

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Asked about the MacPhee flashpoint, Clarke said: “Is that a serious question? We are fine. It’s emotional on the touchline.”

He continued: “It was obviously a difficult night. We didn’t play to our standards while I thought the German team were excellent. The mood afterwards was one of disappointment. We’re better than that, we’re a better team than that.

“Hopefully we can show that in the next two games. This was always going to be a tough night for us to get something. We now need four points from our next two games and that’s what we’ll focus on.”

(Image: PA) Asked if it was his toughest night as Scotland manager, he added: “No, I’ve had tough nights before. I’ll cope. I believe the players will get over this quickly. I have never doubted my players and I never will. To the fans, I would say, keep the faith and we’ll see you at the next game.”

“The game ran away from us very quickly. By conceding the third and obviously getting the sending off as well, it was always going to make it a difficult night after that. It was then about damage limitation and seeing what we could get.

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“In the second half I thought the boys gave everything they could. They worked ever so hard to try to keep the scoreline reasonable. But we have to move on from this quickly. In the next two matches we have to be more competitive. We’ll go away and analyse the game like we always do.”

Clarke bristled when he was told that Scotland had failed to register a single shot on target during the course of the 90 minutes in Bavaria.

“I don’t look at statistics,” he said. “It’s certainly not something I look at right after a game. That said, somebody told me their expected goals was less than two. I don’t know if that’s true, but that’s what I heard. That tells you how clinical the German team were.”

Clarke left Brighton midfielder Billy Gilmour out of his starting line-up much to the disappointment of supporters and started with Callum McGregor alongside Scott McTominay in the middle of the park instead.   

“Of course it was difficult to leave Billy out,” he said. “It would be difficult to leave anyone out the starting line-up. I thought Germany were excellent and we couldn’t get a foothold in the game. I’m not too sure if it would have made any difference. We will find out.”