Bristol City defender sends Euro 2024 message to Scotland boss Steve Clarke over Tommy Conway

Bristol City defender Kal Naismith has backed team-mate Tommy Conway to make an impact at Euro 2024, believing the Robins leader has the arrogance and self-belief to save the tournament in Scotland.

The Tartan Army were immediately put on the back foot in Group A as they were on the receiving end of a 5-1 thrashing by hosts Germany, with Conway an unused substitute as Steve Clarke started Che Adams and then brought on Lawrence Shankland. the bank.

Scotland have two more group games to try and reach the last 16, with Switzerland on Wednesday and then Hungary on Sunday, but with three potentially qualified sides, despite the margin and nature of their defeat to Germany, they remain very much in contention.

They will need to show much more attacking intent than they showed at the Allianz Arena on Friday night, with their only goal of the game coming through Germany defender Antonio Rudiger, and Naismith is confident Conway has what it takes to succeeded.

Shankland looks set to start against the Swiss after Adams was largely an irrelevance in his 45 minutes on the pitch, and although Robin, 21, only won his first cap earlier this month, the attitude his should be much more experienced. professional.

“Tommy’s a confident lad, he’s got that arrogance you need to be a top player,” Naismith told the Daily Record. “His first year of training with the first team was my first season at Bristol City.

“Immediately, I thought, ‘Who is this little guy?’ It was as if he had been with us for years. He had that arrogance that said, “I’m the best.” That’s how Tommy has been ever since.

“He immediately told the senior boys that he wanted to be in penalties and free-kicks. He saw himself as the main man. And if you’re going to succeed, you need that attitude and belief in your own ability.

“He wasn’t born in Scotland, but he’s got that swagger about him. He is confident and has all the jokes. It’ll go right down with the Scottish lads, that’s for sure.

Clarke bringing Conway onto the pitch could not only be beneficial for Scotland but also for City, given his contract status and the admission within Ashton Gate that the forward will have to be sold this summer.

Conway is approaching the final 12 months of his contract in BS3 and has shown no indication that he intends to accept the club’s latest offer, meaning the Robins either take what they can get in this window or lose him for a simple compensation in 2025.

Therefore, a positive performance in Germany could help this process by raising his profile and perhaps cementing some views of various club officials who are perhaps reluctant to pull the trigger on a transfer due to his experience being only in the Championship.

“He is intelligent in his link-up game but his biggest attribute is his finishing. He is deadly. Left or right foot, it’s explosive. And he’s good in the air too. If he gets a chance in Germany, even just a sniff, I’d back him to score,” Naismith added. “Being dropped from the bench at the Euros won’t faze Tommy. He’s going to be nervous—whoever is on that stage—but he’s going to love it, too. He’ll imagine he’s scoring every game because he’s got that arrogance.”

Clarke’s need to make changes sees Conway and City team-mate Ross McCrorie involved against the Swiss, especially the latter given how much Celtic’s Anthony Ralston has struggled on the right side of defence. .

Clarke claimed he may have been guilty of overloading his players with information in the build-up to the Germany game, something he is trying to address in time for Wednesday’s encounter where the Scots must at least claim a draw .

“I spoke to the players about what I felt was wrong from me and what I gave them,” Clarke said. “I think their interpretation of what I asked them to do was wrong, so I worked on that.

“I had a little chat with a lot of them on the training ground this morning. Just to try to put a thing or two in their heads about things that maybe they didn’t do on the field and they should have done.

“We believe in ourselves – we know it was a bad night. We have to accept all the criticism that comes our way and then we have to correct it. To be in football, you have to be very resilient.”

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