Clarke hopes for progress amid injuries

Despite the lengthy list of injury absentees, Scotland head coach Steve Clarke remains confident the tactical tweaks he made last month can be added to on the training pitch.

Scotland switched to a back four and looked more threatening despite defeats by Poland and Portugal, than they did at Euro 2024.

With more time on the training pitch before the games against Croatia and Portugal, the Scotland boss believes they can make further improvements.

“I like the balance of the squad. It gives us options. We had a little bit of time to work last time,” Clarke said.

“The performances were ok, the results obviously not. But we’ve got a base to work on from there.

“We’ve got a little bit more time on the training pitch with a Saturday game. Hopefully we can improve one or two things that help us get two positive results.

“You hopefully build layer on layer every time you get together as you’re trying to change or tweak the system.

“Credit to my two coaches John Carver and Alan Irvine who worked with the lads on the short training time we got on the pitch the last time.

“Hopefully we can put a few more layers on what we’re trying to do. To give the lads confidence they can play different systems and hurt the opposition.”