Scotland host Poland at Hampden Park on Thursday and face Portugal on September 8 in their opening Nations League matches
Thursday 5 September 2024 23:41, UK
Steve Clarke wants "evolution not revolution" for Scotland as they return to action for the first time since the disappointment of Euro 2024.
They host Poland at Hampden Park in their Nations League opener before travelling to face Portugal in Lisbon on Sunday.
After a disappointing summer in Germany, Clarke is also looking ahead to World Cup qualification and his hopes of reaching the tournament in 2026.
The manager will be without Che Adams and Celtic duo James Forrest and Greg Taylor through injury while Hoops captain Callum McGregor has retired from international duty, but he is looking at the positives.
"This is our first game, for the players that have been playing for their clubs at the start of the season they have a bit of freshness about them," he said.
"It's been a long summer, but we are looking forward to the game to see what we get from the players, and I'm sure it will be a big reaction.
"It's an evolution, not a revolution, we have a significant number of injuries that probably impacted my squad a little bit. It means I've had to dip into the Under-21 squad, probably too many times if I'm being honest, because the Under-21s also have a couple of very important fixtures coming up.
"That brings its own freshness, and I've mentioned it before. We respect the core group that have managed to qualify for back-to-back European Championships, but then within that core group you have to try and add a little bit more.
"I am looking at this Nations League campaign and thinking this is a chance to try and evolve the group so that when we do get to the World Cup qualifiers we are in a better shape, ready to go again and ready to qualify for our third tournament out of four."
Scotland captain Andy Robertson says the squad must perform in the Nations League if they want to "feel the love again" from fans.
"The summer was a low for all of us," he said.
"But we have to move on from it. We have to be positive, otherwise it's pointless being here. We have to believe.
"Ok we might have some doubters again within our country. Our country was right behind us in the summer.
"We get they're disappointed and now it's up to us to drag them along with us again. It's up to us to show on the pitch we're willing to fight, win games, and put in the hard yards.
"If we do that we know our fans will come with us as well.
"That's us been to two tournaments now and only got two draws. We've not progressed the way we would have liked.
"We need to look at that. And in the build-up when we played the stronger nations like England and France we didn't show how good we can be.
"But also not that far in the past we beat the European champions here at Hampden, we also beat a really good Denmark team. We competed against Spain away as well.
"We need to get more consistent at doing it. We've done it previously but not all the time. That's what we need to get better at, especially at tournaments."
Goalkeepers: Zander Clark (Heart of Midlothian), Angus Gunn (Norwich City), Jon McCracken (Dundee).
Defenders: Grant Hanley (Norwich City), Max Johnston (SK Sturm Graz), Scott McKenna (UD Las Palmas), Ryan Porteous (Watford), Anthony Ralston (Celtic), Andrew Robertson (Liverpool), John Souttar (Rangers).
Midfielders: Ryan Christie (AFC Bournemouth), Ben Doak (Liverpool), Ryan Gauld (Vancouver Whitecaps), Billy Gilmour (Brighton & Hove Albion FC), John McGinn (Aston Villa), Kenny McLean (Norwich City), Scott McTominay (Manchester United), Lewis Morgan (New York Red Bulls), Connor Barron (Rangers), Josh Doig (Sassuolo).
Forwards: Tommy Conway (Middlesborough), Lyndon Dykes (Queens Park Rangers), Lawrence Shankland (Heart of Midlothian).
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