Who has staked a claim and who has played their way out of Scotland contention? We look at the players giving Steve Clarke sleepless nights

After such an impressive showing from his depleted side against The Netherlands though, Steve Clarke has one that would rival those of the Tartan Army should Scotland come away from Wembley with a win in a couple of weeks’ time.

“I’ve got more problems and decisions to make as a head coach,” said Clarke after the match. “I want to have difficult decisions and sleepless nights.”

The Scotland supporters are certainly dreaming that at the very least, this Scotland team can now go on and make the knockout stages of a major tournament for the first time in the national side’s history.

For in this group of players, it has now been shown that there is a strength in depth that has been sorely missing since we last played on such a stage over 20 years ago.

John Fleck, whose positive coronavirus test ruled him out of the game against the Dutch, is in the squad in a supporting role. But some of the other six bodies who were left behind in Spain for the match in Alicante on Wednesday night as a precaution are generally considered as nailed-on starters.

Of those players, David Marshall, Stephen O’Donnell, Grant Hanley, John McGinn and Che Adams could rightly consider themselves as likely to start against the Czech Republic at Hampden in Scotland’s opening game of the tournament on June 14th.

Nathan Patterson will hope to get the chance to stake his claim in the friendly against Luxembourg on Sunday evening, while Scott McTominay will of course come into the team after being rested due to his appearance in the Europa League final with Manchester United.

Now though, there are more than a few others who may well have played themselves into contention.

Craig Gordon showed that he is still a top-class keeper with a couple of very decent saves. It will be some feat to oust Serbia penalty-shootout hero Marshall, but it could be argued that the Hearts man has been the one in better form of late.

James Forrest, who is a hugely welcome addition to the squad following his injury problems last season, was more than comfortable in the right wing-back role, one where he has sporadically performed well in the past with Celtic too.

At centre-back, Jack Hendry was impressive even discounting the wonderful strike that put his country ahead early on, while Liam Cooper perhaps had his best game to date in a Scotland jersey.

Debutant David Turnbull, playing in a deeper role in Scotland’s midfield than he is used to at club level with Celtic, shone on his first outing with his creativity and coolness in possession, while Stuart Armstrong did his case no harm at all with a dynamic showing in the attacking midfield role. In fact, he was arguably Scotland's best player on the night.

We also got to see Billy Gilmour late on as the Chelsea man made his much anticipated debut, and Scotland fans will hope to see more of him against Luxembourg to see what he can bring to the party.

And let’s not forget the goalscoring cameo from Kevin Nisbet, who is known to have impressed the Scotland players behind the scenes in training even before his first strike for the nation in just his second cap.

While many questioned Clarke’s decision to plump for the Hibernian striker ahead of Leigh Griffiths, his clever movement and general sharpness seemed to back up the theory that he would be a more reliable back up to Adams and Lyndon Dykes than the Celtic man.

Nisbet himself though, released by Partick Thistle three years ago and now scoring against The Netherlands for his country, certainly doesn’t lack confidence, and wont be happy to settle for such a role. He wants to start.

It seems almost miserly to point to any negatives after such an overwhelmingly positive team performance, but there was again a little concern over the form of Celtic pair Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie.

It’s not that either man played all that badly, but they aren’t quite influencing games in the way they can at the moment, and haven’t been for some time with Celtic’s season limping to an end from around January onwards.

Still, there is no doubting the quality that both men possess, and Clarke will be hopeful he can spark them back to life. Of all the players starting last night though who could be considered part of Scotland’s strongest XI going into this training camp, they would be the ones perhaps now with most cause to be looking over their shoulders.

All in all though, a good night’s work brought a long night’s contemplation for the Scotland manager.

“Ultimately, I want to select the right team for the start of the tournament,” said Clarke afterwards. That task just got a good deal more difficult.