Inside the 'hurt' Scotland dressing room after Germany rout as Steve Clarke lifts lid on brutally honest inquest

Scotland boss Steve Clarke says he has ‘kicked some backsides’ and given out some ‘cuddles’ in a bid to make the country fall back in love with his national side.

The manager admits to being ‘hurt and disappointed’ by the woeful nature of the opening night performance in Munch on Friday night when Germany romped to a devastating 5-1 Group A win. Speaking at Scotland ’s camp here in Garmisch-Partenkirchen yesterday lunchtime, Clarke accepted responsibility for the hammering and admitted he may have confused his own players with his big game strategy.

And Clarke has spent the last 72 hours attempting to repair the damage that has been done to his squad as they gear up for the second game of the group against Switzerland on Wednesday night. Asked what his role has been in restoring belief among his crest-fallen players he said: “Kicking a couple of backsides, giving a couple of cuddles, getting them together as a group, making them understand why we had that performance on Friday night and making sure we don’t have that again.

“I am always confident in my players and I am confident in myself. We let people down, we obviously let the country down, but we let ourselves down. That is what hurts the most. It is what hurts me the most, that we let ourselves down.

“If we don’t let ourselves down then we don’t let anybody else down so we have to look straight at the source of the problem. What happened? We were the problem. Okay, let’s fix ourselves. If we fix ourselves then the country might like us again!”

Clarke believes the strength of the bond forged between himself and the players over five years together has allowed him to bring the hammer down on them following Friday’s opening night flop. He said: “Initially I would