Clarke Learning New Role With Town
Tuesday, 3rd Dec 2024 12:37 by Kallum Brisset
Town winger Jack Clarke says his role in the side is a ‘noticeable change’ from what he is used to but believes he is continuing to adapt to the system that has brought the club so much success in recent years.
Clarke, 24, joined the Blues in August from Championship side Sunderland and has played 11 league games so far this season, although only three of those have been starts.
Despite the challenge for consistent minutes, Clarke has enjoyed his time in the Premier League for the first time in his career and says it has gone according to the plan that manager Kieran McKenna outlined to him during the summer.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far,” he said. “Like every player you want to be impacting as much as you can and playing as much football as you can.
“I feel like we’re on the right trajectory in terms of that, some of the performances have been really good and mirrored what \[McKenna\] described it would be like over the summer to me. I’m happy to be a part of it so far.”
Clarke enjoyed his prolific two-and-a-half-year spell on Wearside primarily as a left-winger, often operating close to the touchline and cutting inside onto his stronger right foot.
While playing a similar position on paper with the Blues, McKenna is known for wanting his left-sided players to tuck inside and operate as one of two players behind the main centre-forward, something Clarke is adapting to.
“It’s a noticeable change and is one that I’m trying to get used to and still trying to learn day-to-day,” he said. “It’s not like anything I’ve really done before at other clubs but it’s the system that’s preferred here and they’ve had success with that system so they’re not going to come in and change it for one body.
“When you’re playing top teams every week they’re not going to try and make it easy for you to learn, they’re trying to make it as difficult as possible so that’s making it a little bit harder as well. I’m enjoying it, I’m just still trying to get used to it.”
With the step-up in quality to the Premier League clear to see, the competition for places has been strong. Clarke is predominantly battling with Sammie Szmodics and former Sunderland teammate Nathan Broadhead for one starting berth on the left of the Blues’ forward line.
That has meant the former England U20 international has been used as a substitute in each of the last five matches, but understands what is needed to come into the starting XI and what is required to keep his place.
“It depends on the game situation,” he said when asked about his impact from the bench The two where I was coming on with 10-men were obviously a lot more difficult. You like to try and make an impact regardless of how many minutes you’re going to get in the team.
“You’ve obviously been brought on for a reason and the team needs something at that moment so you just try and do the best you can and see where it takes you.
“You can ask any player and they’d obviously want to start week in, week out. When you’re not in the team it’s not frustrating because it’s still brand new to me, I’ve never played in the Premier League before this season.
“It’s going to a new stadium every week and playing against top players when you get the opportunity, so you’re still learning and improving.
“It’s just about trying to get in the team and staying in the team and then you can showcase what you can do as much as possible.
“Wherever you go and whatever team you go to there’s always going to be competition for places, it’s not like you have one player for every position and that’s set. I knew speaking to the boss over the summer that there was going to be a lot of signings and a lot of top players coming in.
“It’s on you whether you can get in the team and keep the shirt and that’s how it should be everywhere. If I do get the opportunity I’d like to try and stay in.
“I think even if you’re not one of the people who are starting week in, week out, training with these sorts of people can only make you a better player and hopefully that is what it’s doing for me at the minute.
“I knew Broady at Sunderland so I knew he was a top player anyway, but it’s hard to get a feel for how good a player is when you’re only playing in a one-off game or twice during the season.
“Coming in and seeing the level these boys are at day-to-day really brings the best out of you and you really want to strive to get better.”
The Blues head into Tuesday’s clash with Crystal Palace 19th in the Premier League table, sitting on nine points but without a home victory to their name thus far.
Asked if he would have taken the current position at the start of the season, Clarke said: “I’m not sure to be honest. We’ve had a lot of good performances and have been tough to beat, but you always want to have more points and probably feel like we deserve more points and what that actually mirrors in the table.
“But in terms of performance level and where we’ve been over the last couple of weeks especially, we’d definitely take that in terms of the improvement we’ve made and how quickly we’ve adapted to the league.”
One game where the Blues might have taken more points from had a penalty decision gone their way was the 2-0 home defeat to Everton, in which Clarke was denied a spot-kick by VAR having initially been given with the scoreline 1-0 during the first half.
“I’m just hoping they give us one back at some point to be honest, I think they owe us a couple now,” he reflected on that incident. “Hopefully over the next few games they’ll return the favour to us.”
One characteristic that is often said about the Blues side is their squad togetherness and the culture that has been set in place at Playford Road and beyond.
Clarke said: “It’s something that the club really thrives upon and is something that’s been built within the group over the last few years. For us new lads that are still being integrated into that over the summer, it’s been a massive part of what the club’s about and has helped get success in the past.
“Hopefully it’s the same this season, it’s worked for the last two seasons so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work for this season.”
Asked what a first Premier League goal would be like, Clarke said: “Obviously it’s something I’m still waiting for and I’m hoping it comes sooner rather than later. But for me, once you see the first one go in it changes your mindset in terms of thinking you don’t have to do as much to score at this level.
“Hopefully the first one comes soon and then I can get a couple more after that. That was the case over the last couple of seasons so I’m hoping it’s not going to be too dissimilar this season.”
On his decision to wear the number 47 shirt, he added: “It was my first number when I came through at Leeds. I wore 20 for the past few seasons when I was at Sunderland but that’s because I came in late and it was gone, there wasn’t many options left.”
Clarke’s former Leeds United and current Town teammate Leif Davis has openly stated in the past how he relaxes away from football by often using a flight simulator to replicate full-length routes on the computer screen.
While Clarke is not quite as focused as Davis when it comes to other passions, he does enjoy computer games and golf, a pastime that is increasingly popular within the Blues squad.
“I don’t pretend to be a pilot, put it that way,” he joked. “I try to switch off as much as possible by playing the PlayStation and I try and play golf when it’s nice weather.
“I think you always have one eye on fixtures and how other teams are doing so you can’t fully switch off. A lot of people probably don’t think it is but it is like a 24-hour job, you’ve always got to be doing the right things with resting, recovery and having one eye on the next game.
“I probably don’t watch as much as others but I’ll still tune in if there’s a big game on or if there’s a team we’re playing in a couple of weeks just to get one eye on them.”
_TWTD_
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