Injury problems mount for Clarke’s Scotland

Six games without a victory, one win in 14, three straight defeats, it is not the time Scotland head coach Steve Clarke wants to hear of more injury woes, never mind any loss of club form.

But that is exactly what he is facing as he names his squad on Tuesday for the Nations League games away to Croatia on 12 October and at home to Portugal three days later.

John McGinn, Scott McKenna, Ryan Gauld and Tommy Conway are the latest possible absences.

And, of course, Austin MacPhee will also be missing from the dugout after the set-piece coach decided to concentrate on his Aston Villa duties for family reasons.

Here are the latest dilemmas facing the national coach:

No stopping starting Gunn

Angus Gunn again has little competition as number one considering his consistent starts for Norwich City – unless Clarke decides on an unexpected recall for veteran Craig Gordon.

The 41-year-old is keeping Zander Clark on the Heart of Midlothian bench, while Robby McCrorie has not won his Kilmarnock place back after injury and Liam Kelly remains back-up to Jack Butland with Rangers.

Dundee’s Jon McCracken could, therefore, retain his place after a late call-up last time.

Troubled centre

Scott McKenna, who had proved an able deputy at left centre-back during the continued absence of Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney, is an almost certain absentee with a hamstring injury that forced him to miss Las Palmas’ draw with Real Betis.

With Al Ettifaq’s Jack Hendry and Bristol City’s Ross McCrorie having not played for their clubs yet this season, and Ryan Porteous and Grant Hanley both weekend substitutes for Championship sides Watford and Norwich respectively, it leaves Clarke with few centre-half options who are starting for their clubs.

Liam Cooper at least played the full 90 minutes of his debut for mid-table CSKA Sofia in their 0-0 draw away to third-top Cherno More after his move from Leeds United to Bulgaria was held up by red tape.

The lack of options has led to a report suggesting Clarke is considering a first call-up for 28-year-old Liam Lindsay, despite Preston North End sitting third bottom of England’s second tier.

Similarly, at right-back, Nathan Patterson has only just returned to action with Everton’s reserves, while Anthony Ralston was unused on Celtic’s bench

Max Johnston started a 2-1 win away to Blau-Weiss Linz that took Sturm Graz to the top of the Austrian Bundesliga, but he is one of several young players Clarke has to decide whether would be better deployed helping the under-21s in their crucial European Championship qualifiers.

Midfield woes

Just when Ryan Gauld’s Scotland career looked to have taken off with his first two caps off the bench against Poland and Portugal, the attacking midfielder missed Vancouver Whitecaps’ 1-1 draw with Portland Timbers through injury.

Should it force him out of Clarke’s squad this time, it could increase the chances of a recall for new clubmate Stuart Armstrong, the former Southampton player, 32, having come on as a substitute on Sunday.

John McGinn is also likely to be ruled out having missed Aston Villa’s latest two outings after being forced off at half-time against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

It is not all doom and gloom, though, with Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour flying high after their move to Napoli, while Ben Doak’s chances of adding to his first two caps will have been boosted after the 18-year-old winger scored while making his first Middlesbrough start on loan from Liverpool in their 2-0 win over Stoke City.

Oh, and fit-again Ryan Jack made his first start for Esenler Erokspor as they beat Pendikspor 4-0 in the Turkish second tier.

Fronting up

It’s been a mixed bag weekend for Scotland’s meagre pool of strikers.

Che Adams came off the bench to score his third goal since joining Torino as they lost 3-2 at home to Lazio in Serie A and must be a shoe in to be included after dropping out last time through injury.

Lawrence Shankland at least broke his season’s scoring duck with a deflected effort in Heart of Midlothian’s draw with Ross County.

Kevin Nisbet will have boosted his chance of a recall with his third goal since joining Aberdeen on loan from Millwall in their win over Dundee.

However, Tommy Conway missed Middlesbrough’s win over Stoke with an injury, while Lyndon Dykes was taken off at half-time before Birmingham City fought back from two goals down to beat Peterborough United in League One.

As outliers, Jacob Brown returned from injury as a substitute in Luton Town’s defeat by Plymouth Argyle, while Oli McBurnie came on at half time for Las Palmas against Real Betis.