Steve Clarke says “Rolls Royce” Scott McTominay is ready to go for Euro opener

HE’S had to handle an injury list that would drive most managers crazy.

Scotland have already seen Aaron Hickey, Nathan Patterson, Lewis Ferguson, Jacob Brown, Lyndon Dykes, and Ben Doak struck down by injury.

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Clarke yesterday allayed fears goal machine talisman Scott McTominay was a doubt for the clash with the host nation next Friday.

Although he won’t start tonight’s final friendly against Finland.

However, midfielder Stuart Armstrong is a more serious concern, with Clarke admitting the best he can hope for is being fit for the bench in Munich next week.

The Scotland boss said: “Scott is fine. He trained with us on Friday.

“That was the first time he’s trained since he got that kick on the ankle in the FA Cup final.

“He won’t start against Finland, but he will come on at some stage.

“He will be fine for next week. He’s 100 per cent. He’s a Rolls-Royce.

“Liam Cooper‘s fine. He trained as well. It was just a bang on the knee.

“Obviously those can be painful, but it’s nothing more serious.

“When he picked up the knock the other night, I made sure we took him off straight away.

“Liam’s a tough guy, he’ll be fine.

“With Stuart Armstrong, he’s in the very last stage of his rehab. We expect he’ll get the all-clear on Monday when we’re in Germany.

“If everything goes to plan after the final checks from the medics, Stuart should be available for the Germany game as well, albeit probably not to start.”

Clarke and his squad had an open training session yesterday at Hampden, watched by thousands of invited youngsters.

The gaffer said: “The session we had in the morning was unbelievable, fantastic.

“Hopefully somewhere in that crowd of kids there’s a future Scottish international.

“That’s why we did it, to engage with the young ones.

“Hopefully we can engage with a few more of the adult population and put in a good performance against Finland.

“Getting a good result would be nice and we’d head off to Germany in good shape.

“I’m looking forward to there being a bit of a send-off, but

I’m also looking forward to being on the other side of that as well, with no more dramas.

“It’s going to be great. We didn’t get the chance to do something like this before the last Euros and it was really difficult to gauge because it was Covid-affected.

“But the idea to be in Scotland preparing this time has been a good one. It’s worked well for us.

“It will be nice to finish it off with a positive night on Friday and head off to Germany to do what we think we’re going to do, which is very well.”

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Clarke admits he had to have a “horrible” conversation with striker Dykes after he was ruled out last week.

The QPR man played in all eight qualifiers and Clarke revealed he has a close relationship with him. Clarke also felt for new boy Doak.

He said: “It’s a horrible part of the job. If I’m being honest, I’ve had a really difficult week with the conversations I’ve had to have with Lyndon.

“He’s one of my key players, one of the ones I’m really close with, so that was tough.

“Then you’ve got a young man like Ben who comes in with hope, thinking he’s going to make his debut and go to a major tournament.

“Unfortunately, his knee wasn’t going to stand up to the rigours of working for a month.

“So you’ve got to have that difficult conversation with him.

“I’ve had several difficult conversations already and I know I’ve still two more ahead of me in terms of the boys who miss out.

“But I’ve had a fair bit of practice of watching games and feeling concerned about injuries.

“We lost Lewis, Nathan, Jacob and Aaron, so it’s always in the back of your mind.

“Any time you train or play, you can pick up an injury. The players understand that.”

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Clarke also believes Ryan Gauld of Vancouver Whitecaps should take heart from his MLS colleague Lewis Morgan’s call-up, and rubbished the suggestion he and his staff ignore the Stateside scene.

He added: “It doesn’t bother me people think we don’t watch the MLS, because I know what we’re doing behind the scenes.

“I don’t care what anybody else says, I know me and my staff are doing everything we can to take as wide a view across the world.

“I believe the other one who gets mentioned in the MLS quite a lot is Ryan Gauld.

“But Ryan’s trying to get in ahead of John McGinn, Scott McTominay, Lewis Ferguson, who’s obviously injured now, Ryan Christie and Billy Gilmour.

“So he maybe has to be a little more patient.

“But I’m hoping with Lewis’ call-up Ryan’s now sitting in Vancouver thinking, ‘Hmm, that could have been me’, because it could have been.

“If we’d lost a midfielder it could have been someone else.

“Position for position, everyone has to know that we’re watching and to always perform to their maximum, because you just never know.

“We’ve two boys who’ve come in this time and what a chance it is for them.

“We’ve got some older boys in the squad as well and as we move forward to the Nations League games, there might be a little refresh.

“So just keep doing what you’re doing.”

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