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Steve Clarke has told his Scotland players to “stop this run” of defeats next month after losing 4-1 to France in Lille. The Scots went into the friendly knowing they had qualified for the 2024 European Championships after Spain beat Norway at the weekend to ensure a top-two finish in Group A. Scotland had lost 2-0 to Spain last week on the back of a 3-1 loss to England at Hampden Park in the 150th Heritage Anniversary match and the French were even classier. Clarke made eight changes from Seville – goalkeepers Liam Kelly and Zander Clark played a half each on their debuts. Scotland stunned the home side when midfielder Billy Gilmour guided in the opener after 11 minutes – his first ever senior goal. However, France defender Benjamin Pavard scored two headers, skipper Kylian Mbappe added a third from the spot before the break after a VAR intervention saw referee Tobias Stieler judge Scotland defender Liam Cooper had held Olivier Giroud and substitute Kingsley Coman hammered in a fourth. After victory in their first five Euro qualifiers, Scotland have lost three in a row and Clarke wants to get that winning feeling back in the final two qualifiers against Georgia next month before the final game against Norway. He said: “We can take away the memory of the qualification but we lost two games in the camp. “We don’t like losing. I don’t want them to be comfortable losing or happy to lose. We have lost three in a row now and I have asked them to make sure that when we got to Georgia that we stop this run Steve Clarke “We spoke about that after the game. It is important we set our standards higher than that. “We have lost three in a row now and I have asked them to make sure that when we got to Georgia that we stop this run. “We want to finish on the same points as Spain so the target is to finish with 21 point which will make it a good campaign.” Clarke, who was “happy” with his team selection, acknowledged the superiority of the home side. He said: “I thought we started the game really well, the first 15 minute was good and we got ourselves in front. “To concede a goal from a corner was disappointing because we know France can score from open play and we try not to give goals away from set plays. “The third goal – I don’t think VAR should have got involved in the decision, it was soft and when the referee goes there he has to be strong to stick with his original decision. “Both players were at it and that takes the game away from us. “The second half was OK but France are always a threat with their pace and power and quality. “So lots to learn, lots to improve. We know we are not at that level yet. “It is level we are going to strive to get to and the harder we strive the better team we will be.” After sealing qualification to Euro 2024 with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands on Friday, France boss Didier Deschamps was happy to finish the camp off with a convincing win He said: “It was a very good week, When you win you are always happy. “The most important thing was against the Netherlands on Friday night and the fact that we have shown so much quality tonight as well, it is a great satisfaction for us. “We created lots of chances against a team that can defend pretty well and has a lot of qualities. So we are very happy.” Read More Michael O’Neill wants Shea Charles to learn from dismissal on frustrating night Republic of Ireland heading in the right direction – striker Callum Robinson Scotland come back to earth as France recover from early fright Shea Charles dismissed as Northern Ireland lose at home to Slovenia Jordan Henderson has ‘no regrets’ over Saudi Arabia move despite being booed Rassie Erasmus expects England to have ‘some beef’ with South Africa

Michael O’Neill has told Shea Charles he must learn from his dismissal after Northern Ireland suffered yet another 1-0 defeat in Euro 2024 qualifying, this time at home to Slovenia. The 19-year-old Charles has been one of the bright spots for Northern Ireland in a hugely frustrating qualifying campaign, among the young players who have grabbed the chance to establish themselves in the side amid an injury nightmare. But his international copybook got its first blemish as he collected two yellow cards to be sent off just before the hour mark at Windsor Park, meaning his run of starting every game so far in this campaign will end when Northern Ireland head to Finland next month. The Southampton midfielder was booked for dissent just a few minutes into the match, protesting against the dubious decision to award Slovenia the free-kick from which Adam Cerin won the game, and then saw red when he caught Andraz Sporar late in the 58th minute. Northern Ireland had been frustrated by several decisions from referee Istvan Kovacs on the night but O’Neill said that was something they had to be able to handle. “This is a learning curve for young players,” he said. “(Slovenia) are a much more experienced international team than we are. You can see that in the way they managed the situation and played the referee a little bit. “The emotion in the stadium obviously transferred to the players a little bit, everyone gets a bit frustrated with some of the decisions…If you’re booked for dissent, that’s poor. You put yourself under pressure so we have to learn from that.” “We’ve probably seen a little combination of inexperience in a number of players and also just the nature of the emotion in the game when you’re chasing the game against a team that are a little bit more experienced and that can spill over a little bit. “But I think that on the night we were pretty disappointed with the performance of the referee.” This was Northern Ireland’s fifth 1-0 defeat of a campaign in which they have faced endless injury problems, with O’Neill forced to use two more fresh faces – Eoin Toal and Brad Lyons – on the night to take the number who have played in the eight qualifiers so far to 31. O’Neill could rightly argue that this performance was a step forward from last month’s 4-2 defeat to Slovenia in Ljubljana considering the way a makeshift defence was able to stifle Benjamin Sesko – who went down easily to win the decisive free-kick off Jamal Lewis – and Sporar. But ultimately it was another defeat, a sixth out of eight with only two wins over minnows San Marino to break up the run. “I think there is always frustration when you lose the game – and a little bit of disappointment as well,” he said. “I think the players deserved more out of it than what they got. We have had a frustrating campaign, a very challenging campaign and tonight’s game was probably a reflection of that once again.” Captain Jonny Evans ended the night limping heavily after taking a late blow to his foot, having already been down in the first half to receive treatment. “He’s obviously hobbling a little bit in there,” O’Neill said of the Manchester United defender. “I think the same foot was stamped on three times so he’s limping pretty badly but I think he’ll be fine. “It will be one of those where when he wakes up in the morning he’ll be pretty sore but there’s no real damage as far as I know.” Read More Steve Clarke says Scotland have ‘lots to improve’ after defeat to France Republic of Ireland heading in the right direction – striker Callum Robinson Scotland come back to earth as France recover from early fright Shea Charles dismissed as Northern Ireland lose at home to Slovenia Jordan Henderson has ‘no regrets’ over Saudi Arabia move despite being booed Rassie Erasmus expects England to have ‘some beef’ with South Africa

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