Steve Clarke has stressed the importance of continuity in his squad selection as he plans for Scotland’s vital World Cup qualifiers against Greece and Belarus.
After a positive start with a draw in Denmark and win over Belarus earlier this month, the home double-header in October will see the side cross the halfway mark in what is a short and challenging qualification campaign.
Clarke is hoping to guide Scotland to their first World Cup finals since 1998 and knows there is little room for error, and has only made minimal changes to the squad announced on Tuesday.
Craig Gordon is the only player included who wasn’t part of the previous squad, and the fit-again goalkeeper, who has 81 caps, is hardly a new face as he comes in at the expense of fellow Hearts player Zander Clark.
Other than that, the only change is the cut in squad size to 23 men, with Max Johnston and Dom Hyam dropping out.
Clarke explained the cut in squad size as being down to the ease with which he can call up replacements for home games, and said this selection was “straightforward”.
He thinks the scheduling of the games and limited training time means there is a real benefit to sticking with the players who were together only a few weeks ago.
“Continuity has been one of the key themes, I think, over my six-and-a-half years here,” Clarke said.
“I’ve always tried to keep a core squad together since when the players come into camp, you don’t have a lot of time, especially this time because it’s a Thursday to Sunday camp.
“So most of the boys will play Saturday or Sunday over the weekend, so you don’t get very much time on the training pitch. Continuity, certainly when your first game is on a Thursday, is very important.”
Some fans had been touting Hearts forward Lawrence Shankland for a return to the squad, or hoping to see a call-up for Oliver Burke, who recently scored a hat-trick for Union Berlin in the Bundesliga.
While the head coach sees the benefit of a settled squad, he insists that doesn’t mean he is unaware of the claims of others, or keeping a very close eye on available players and their form.
“I think about all these players,” Clarke said, after smiling at the mention of Burke during his media conference. “People seem to think that, because I tend to pick the same players, more often than not, people think that I don’t look outside and I don’t look at other options.
“I’m always looking at other options because you never know when you’re going to get injuries, suspensions, and when you’re going to have to call people into your squad.
“So yeah, I got a lot of text messages when Oli got that hat-trick, and it was good to see, because obviously he’s a big talent. He was in some of my earlier squads.
“He sort of drifted a little bit over the last five years, but if he can find a home and settle down and play well week in, week out, then that’ll be good for all.”
Clarke also addressed his goalkeeping selection, noting Gordon’s experience and admitting that the lack of first-team action for any of his keepers was still on his mind, though not a pressing concern in this short qualifying campaign.
“I think with the goalkeepers it’s probably still a bit of an issue, but it’s less than three weeks since the last camp, so not such a big issue in the September, October, November camps,” he said.
“I think the issue comes between November and March. Obviously, in that time there is a transfer window and you never know what’s going to happen.”
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