Clarke on sleepless nights, ‘little details’ & Croatia ‘magician’ Modric

On having key players such as John McGinn back from injury, Clarke says: “It’s great, I haven’t slept this week with all the different permutations in my head.”

Clarke believes Scotland “deserve more points” given their performances in this campaign, but says his players “have shown they can be competitive at this level”.

Scotland have to find “extra little details” to get results and Clarke adds: “We still have two games to come and still have a chance to stay at this level, which is what want. But we need to turn our performances into points.”

Clarke says says his side will have to defend well as they did against Portugal in their last game. He wants Scotland to be better with the ball, have more possession and improve upon creating chances.

The Scotland boss notes Croatia are organised and a threat going forward. On Luka Modric, he says they have “one little magician in midfield who can run a game if you allow him to. I don’t think we did that in Croatia and I hope we won’t allow him to do it at Hampden.”

On learning from the success of Croatia, Clarke says changes need to be made and “we need more young players playing for their clubs” to enable a “conveyor belt of talent” coming through.