Steve should pick up the phone if he has to
They promise to be Scotland’s biggest games in years.
That’s why I think Steve Clarke should make a big call to prevent injury call-offs wrecking his side’s Euro 2020 play-off hopes.
I was gutted when I heard about John Mcginn’s fractured ankle.
I felt bad for the player, first and foremost, because he has been an absolute breath of fresh air in the Premier League.
Then when I realised Mcginn would be a major doubt for Scotland’s winner-takes-all clash with Israel at the end of the March, my head was in my hands.
Already Kieran Tierney is facing a race to be fit following surgery on a shoulder injury. But that wasn’t the end of it.
After Mcginn’s injury, the last thing Scotland needed was another midfielder in the wars.
So watching Scott Mctominay hobbling out of Old Trafford on crutches on Boxing Day was a real kick in the teeth.
These guys are all top players in the Premier League.
I’m sure if guys like Brown and Snodgrass were approached, they’d become available
Should they not be available come the March play-offs, they would be an enormous miss for Scotland.
But I reckon there’s a potential solution available to Steve Clarke – and I think it’s one he’ll already be thinking about.
The Scotland boss said when he took the job at Hampden that he wouldn’t ask players who retire from international duty to step back in. In an emergency – as Tierney, Mcginn and Mctominay being ruled out would be – I believe Clarke will change his policy.
And I’m sure if guys like Scott Brown and Robert Snodgrass were approached, they would make themselves available.
The Israel game is absolutely massive. Those players will be as aware of that as any other Scotland fan.
If Steve Clarke sounds them out, I can’t see them saying no.
Scott Brown is still bossing games for Celtic, so there’s absolutely no doubt about his capabilities.
To be honest, I’d argue Scotland are actually missing him, despite the good young midfielders we’ve got coming through.
Snodgrass is still doing the business for West Ham in the Premier League, and scored a magnificent goal on Boxing Day.
For me, those guys would be a ready-made solution to any midfield injury problems Scotland have ahead of the play-offs.
” And they aren’t the only ones.
I know Charlie Adam didn’t see eye-to-eye with Gordon Strachan, and vice-versa.
But Charlie is still playing week-in, week-out for Reading in the Championship.
The idea that he couldn’t do a job in midfield for Scotland is daft.
And I know for a fact that he’d walk up to
Glasgow for the chance of another Scotland cap.
Yes, these guys are all of an age where Steve Clarke cannot build a team for the future around them.
The best years of their respective careers are more than likely behind all of them, while the likes of Tierney, Mcginn and Mctominay are still on their way up.
But at a pinch, the older guys could absolutely slot in and do a job for Scotland.
They’ve got the experience, the ability, and under current circumstances – for the sake of the nation – I think they’d have the desire.
And if it could be the difference between making the European Championships and missing out, I think Steve Clarke would pick up the phone.