Steve Clarke is convinced the Scotland squad he selected can get results in both games against Cyprus and Belgium.
A series of injuries and unavailabilities have hampered Clarke’s initial selection for the European Championship qualifiers, with the Scotland boss citing the awkward timing of the games.
Pressure is on the national side to get results against Cyprus at Hampden Park next week and in Belgium, after the 3-0 defeat to Kazakhstan in March that helped precipitate the end of Alex McLeish’s second reign.
Clarke had approached numerous players who were either injured or disillusioned with previous camps, in a bid to gauge their availability for this and future squads.
While the ex-Killie boss concedes the squad can improve in the future, he is confident in the quality he has at his disposal.
Clarke said: “With a little more time and a little more attention I could maybe have found a bigger and better squad. This squad of players all want to be here and that’s the main thing for me. It’s difficult for the ones I called last week and tried to convince to cancel weddings that they’ve had organised for the last two years or whatever. It’s really difficult to do that with people. We have to be understanding that this is the squad that’s available and I think it’s a good squad.
“How long is a piece of string? You always try and get the best players in your squad, and that is what we will try to do. There’s enough talent in that squad to get results in both games, I’m convinced of that.”
It has been a crash course in international management for Scotland’s manager of the year, who was confirmed as the new national team coach last week.
The honour of representing your country has never waned in Clarke’s eyes, despite the changes in approach from some modern footballers.
Clarke said: “It’s a completely different job to club management because you are trying to convince people who are not your players to come and play for you. Now it should be easy because everyone should want to play for their country.
“I take myself as an example, I would never have retired from international football, I got six caps and every time a squad was announced it hurt me that I wasn’t in it. Now I’ve got the chance to be the national team manager I’m hoping given time – remember I’m only seven, eight days into the job – we will be able to persuade players to come back and have a stronger national team in the future. All this 27 want to be here, we should concentrate on them for the next two matches.
“There are many reasons why they aren’t available for selection. I could bring in a list of injured players, I think about a dozen, and at this stage of the season as an international manager that’s something I’m going to have to get used to. Hopefully some of them will be fit and available by the start of next season. It’s the time of season where clubs and club players look after their bodies. You have to accept that, these games are late.”
