IF any members of the Tartan Army are a little unfamiliar with what new Scotland recruit Che Adams can bring to the party, then captain Andy Robertson is well qualified to fill them in on the new man at Steve Clarke’s disposal.
Robertson has come up against Adams at club level, attempting to contain the Southampton striker with Liverpool, and he says that the 24-year-old has always kept him and his illustrious teammates busy.
The Scotland skipper is excited to see if he can translate his recent fine form in the English Premier League onto the international stage, and add to the strength in depth that the national team are now enjoying in what has been a problem area in the past.
“I’ve played against Che,” Robertson said. “He’s a handful and he has a lot of qualities. He has shown that at Southampton.
“To have him involved in the squad is excellent. In training, he has been excellent and that adds to the quality we’ve got.
“Lyndon (Dykes), since he has become a Scotland player, has been excellent. (Oli) McBurnie works so hard and shows his quality. You’ve also got (Ryan) Christie and Ryan Fraser, people like that who all play in those positions. All of a sudden, you’ve got so many options that you can pick.
“Look, Che is a fantastic player. I know the problems he can cause defences.
“Hopefully he can do that in a Scotland shirt as well.”
It isn’t only in attack though that Robertson feels there is a greater pool of talent for manager Clarke to delve into these days.
“We had a big overhaul under the previous manager and we seem to have got a kind of nucleus again,” he said. “The gaffer’s calling up quality.
“I was looking today at both teams in training and there’s quality all over the pitch, both teams.
“That’s where the squad’s so competitive – you see the boys who have been left out.
“Maybe now you look at the quality of the squad – all over the park we’ve got it. We’ve got quality on the bench, players who can come on and make the difference.
“So, it’s about trying to make that quality count and bringing it all together to becoming a good team.”
The opening three games of the World Cup qualification campaign have rather gone under the radar until now, with so much focus on the European Championships to come in the summer.
But Robertson feels that qualifying for the World Cup would top the national side’s heroics in Serbia last November.
“It would be right up there,” he said.
“The Euros is a huge competition and to qualify for that is great. But the World Cup is that step up.
“Playing against all the nations of the world – the South Americans, the Africans – would be right up there.
“I suppose we’ve got the monkey off our back, as such, finally qualifying for a major tournament after such a long time.
“Now it’s about building momentum with that, it’s not waiting for as long as the next one.
“It’s about getting Scotland back to qualifying for tournaments on a regular basis.
“So, we’re the group of boys who can hopefully do that. But we know how hard it’s going to be and it’s up to us to be able to show our qualities to get into the position to do so.”
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