Kenny McLean and his Scotland teammates are “desperate” for a optimistic end result towards “top nation” Croatia within the Nations League.
Steve Clarke’s facet have received simply one in all their final 14 matches and are nonetheless looking for their first factors of their group after dropping to Portugal and Poland final month.
Harm-hit Scotland will even be with out 13 gamers for the journey to Zagreb, together with Aston Villa’s John McGinn and Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney.
McLean, who has been capped 42 instances for his nation, hopes to deliver an finish to the nationwide staff’s dreadful run of type on Saturday.
“We’ll go to Croatia with the belief that we can get a result,” stated the Norwich Metropolis midfielder.
“If not, we might be as effectively staying again right here.
“It isn’t a clear sweep, we do not simply begin once more. We do not simply brush it below the carpet and say ‘let’s go once more’.
“That’s never going to improve us. If we want to improve, we’re going to improve by taking what we’re doing on the pitch and improving that.”
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Scotland assistant John Carver says it looks like Craig Gordon
Croatia are ranked twelfth on this planet rankings, one place greater than Germany who beat Scotland 5-1 within the opening match of Euro 2024.
“We’re up against really good opposition and that’s where we want to be,” added McLean.
“We’ve worked hard to get there. We want to pit ourselves against the best. The next step is to start getting these results, we’re desperate for them.
“Croatia are a robust staff, they all the time have been. So, it should be robust, we all know that.
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Ben Doak discusses being the youngest in Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad and feeling like he now belongs
“We need to keep learning from the games we’ve played against these top nations.
“We do not need to simply cease there; we need to push ourselves once more to compete at this degree.
“It’s not enough to just do well the previous year to get into this pot. We want to keep improving and start getting results against these nations because that’s the next step for us.
“I do not suppose anyone desires to be struggling at this degree. We’re towards good opposition, however we have got good gamers, we’re an excellent staff.”
Will Scotland end long wait for a win?
Steve Clarke has been answerable for Scotland since 2019
Scotland will hope the upcoming video games towards Croatia and Portugal will finish the longest winless run within the nation’s historical past.
The staff have misplaced 5 and drawn three of their final eight aggressive fixtures. Together with friendlies, that run stands at only one win – towards Gibraltar – in 14 matches.
On paper these late defeats to Poland and Portugal would counsel there may be little motive to be optimistic. Nevertheless, once you take a look at the extra optimistic strategy on the pitch, a brand new 4-2-3-1 formation and contemporary faces getting their alternative to make a mark, there may be but motive to imagine for the Tartan Military.
What’s subsequent for Scotland?
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