What do numbers tell us about Scotland's World Cup attacking intent?

Much of the criticism that stemmed from Scotland's meek Euro 2024 showings arose from Clarke's reluctance to move away from a back-five formation. This summer, that has not been the case. The Scotland boss has used three different set-ups across three different games. A 4-4-2 shape that helped the Scots score eight goals across two encouraging World Cup warm-up fixtures against 10-man Curacao and Bolivia was deployed in the nervy win over the Haitians. Slight variations of a 4-2-3-1 were used against both Morocco and Brazil, with full-back Kieran Tierney on the left of midfield against the former and a more attack-minded system, with Ben Gannon-Doak on the wing instead, against the Brazilians. Morocco aside, the front-footed look of the Scotland XIs on paper against Haiti and Brazil played into the self-proclaimed idea that Clarke had travelled to the US as a new man with fresh ideas. However, there were repeated concerns about gameplans and the execution of them. Scotland were clinging on for much of the 1-0 victory over Haiti and many feared that a single-goal win would potentially be damaging for their hopes of progression. It looks set to play a part in what now feels like an inevitable early exit.