Scotland captain Andy Robertson during a training session at the Oriam, Edinburgh, ahead of tonight’s Uefa Nations League clash with Israel.

Unique opportunity for Clarke to get squad together for run of internationals

Replicating the familiarity and rhythm of a club team habitually and frustratingly seems out of reach for a national coach.

But as Scotland embark on a programme of seven, hopefully eight, matches in little over two months, the condensed schedule caused by the coronavirus shutdown provides Steve Clarke with an environment as near to domestic football as he’s ever going to get.

It’s a unique luxury and opportunity. Clarke hasn’t been a manager known for tinkering with formations too often, certainly in his time with Scotland, but he teased the possibility of that changing as he outlined the demands he is placing on his players and the options open to him if they take them on board.

He certainly didn’t dismiss the idea of switching to a back-three against Israel at Hampden Park tonight in the first Nations League group game, potentially to accommodate Kieran Tierney on the left-hand side of that trio in a position he has played several times for Arsenal.

“It will depend how receptive the players are,” he said. “Obviously they have to have a positive mentality, they have to be prepared to be really receptive.

“It also helps if they have had some recent experience of playing different formations, different systems. Most of them over the course of their career will have come across that. Maybe not at the particular club they are at just now. They might play a different way. But when you come away on international week you have to be very receptive and you have to be quick learners.

“It is three days’ worth of training sessions with a lot of emphasis on formation. That is backed up by a lot of video meetings. I would say in this camp I have probably done more video meetings than normal just to try and bed down some new principles and also to reinforce the previous principles that we had.

“It has put us on to a three game unbeaten run and it is a run that we want to continue.”

This evening will provide the answer to the Tierney-Robertson dilemma – for the short-term at least.

“I think I will just let you speculate for another 24 hours,” said Clarke.

“We have looked at different combinations for the team and the way we are going to play. It has been a good week’s training.”

The last time Scotland had a doubleheader, they won both games. So it’s understandable that Clarke doesn’t want to treat this latest one – against Israel and then away to the Czech Republic on Monday night – as a clean slate.

“I think we look to build on the momentum we had last year,” he said.

“It’s obviously been a long gap between games but it’s not been a long gap with other things going on – it’s been a very strange long gap if you like, unprecedented times with everyone stuck at home.

“It is really important that we refocus from the very start. We all came out of Hampden with a big smile on our faces last November and we want to carry that positivity into these games coming up.

“I felt the players were the same as me when we got together. It is almost like old friends meeting up. It was a good start to the week and that has continued right through the week.”

The stakes tonight are nowhere near as high as they will be in a month when these countries meet again in Glasgow, fighting it out for a place in a play-off final to qualify for the postponed European Championships.

And Clarke was reluctant to join any dots between the two fixtures even though they are so close to each other.

“We want the positivity but next month’s game is a knock-out, one-off game,” he pointed out.

“We’ll be playing it in a different manner with a different mentality.

“What’s more important for us is that after nine-and-a-half months we have a chance to get two games under our belts before the October qualifier.”

Whether it has been in England for the likes of Robertson and Tierney, bringing last season to a delayed conclusion, or for the Scottish-based players starting a new campaign, whoever is selected by Clarke should be fully adjusted to the demands of closed-doors football. The manager is the only one new to it. “The players will certainly have their heads around it better than I will,” he acknowledged. “Obviously I haven’t experienced it yet. I am a 100% believer that football is a spectator sport and it is sad in these times that we cannot get people in the ground but obviously you have to be guided by the safety.

“Hopefully by the time we get around to the games next month we are allowed to have at least some supporters in the stadium. But in terms of these games behind closed-doors the players will have much more experience than me and will be a little bit more attuned to the conditions.

“It will be like going back many, many years to when I took the youth team on a Saturday morning – you could shout and the players could hear you and respond.

“But like I said, football for me at any sort of senior level should be played in front of a big crowd with the atmosphere and the pride and passion the Tartan Army show all the time.”

Clarke will have no problem welcoming Oli McBurnie back into the fold after reiterating the striker played a friendly for his club two days after dropping out of the Scotland squad with his blessing.

“I thought the outcry over it was over the top,” he said. “It was a simple situation. He’s fit to pl ay in a pre-season friendly for Sheffield United but that is completely different to a match situation with your country.”

Clarke had settled on 10 of his 11 to face Israel by yesterday afternoon and would “have a little sleep on the other one”.

It helps if they have had some experience of playing different formations. It will depend on how receptive the players are