Shankland will block out noise off pitch to be a hit on it
SOMETIMES, it does a footballer good to block out the noise. Just ask Ryan Christie, who took the drastic step of deleting his Twitter account after being the subject of online abuse for getting himself sent off in Celtic’s defeat by Livingston on Sunday.
Lawrence Shankland has taken a similar outlook towards criticism of Steve Clarke’s decision to call him up for the Scotland squad for the games against Russia and San Marino, blanking out the critics who claim the level he is playing at should discount him from selection.
The Dundee United attacker is intent on proving he can handle the step up from the Scottish Championship to the international arena, proving the naysayers wrong in the process.
“I didn’t need to hear [the criticism] – I know I have been doing well myself,” Shankland said. “If the goals are going in at the pace they have been, I’m doing all right. I’m not the first [Championship player] to be called up. It happened to John McGinn a few years ago, and look at him now. He has really kicked on and is playing every week in the Premier League. People wouldn’t have seen that for him at the time. There is going to be criticism – I’ll just look to play my football and ignore all that.
“This is an opportunity that has come to me and it’s one I’ll be looking to take.”
The opinions that matter to Shankland are those of Scotland coach Clarke and his backroom staff, and they have been overwhelmingly positive as they welcomed the 24-yearold into the national team training camp at Oriam, where he set about making a good first impression in yesterday’s training session.
“They’ve all said to go out and enjoy it and express myself,” he said. “They all believe I am good enough to be a part of it, so it was good to get that feedback from people in football.
“It was just good to get a training session and get a touch of the ball and get involved. When you are out there training with that level of player then it does hit home. It can only help being surrounded by this quality of player.
“Everybody in the squad is playing at a really good level like the Premier League down south. I’ll be looking to learn off of everyone, not just the strikers.”
While Shankland’s immediate focus is to impress enough in training to earn a place in the starting XI for the game in Moscow on Thursday night,
It happened to John McGinn and look at him. He has kicked on and is playing every week in the Premier League