Scotland are desperate to remain in Nations League Group A according to assistant manager John Carver, despite a potential return to the second tier of the competition potentially being better for Steve Clarke’s win percentage as head coach of the national side.
The Scots are currently on a run of just one win in their last 16 matches, a friendly triumph over Gibraltar before the European Championships, and haven’t tasted victory in their last 10 outings.
The calibre of opposition that Scotland have come up against has undoubtedly contributed towards that poor sequence of form, with Clarke coming under pressure after his side lost their first three matches of their Nations League section off the back of their disappointing Euros campaign.
A battling goalless draw against the superstars of Portugal at Hampden last time out though has kept the Scots in with a chance of remaining in the top section of the competition, with games to come against Croatia at the national stadium on Friday night and Poland in Warsaw on Monday.
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Carver says that would be a great achievement if Scotland do pull it off, and he is in no doubt that another chance to test themselves against top-level opponents would be beneficial to the Scotland squad, if not for Clarke’s stats as manager.
When asked if Scotland would be better off competing in the ‘B’ section of the Nations League, Carver said: "The manager is, if he wants to keep his data, and his stats up.
“But no, I think playing against a better team, you find out more, you learn more, you progress quicker.
“For me, I enjoy coming up against the best coaches, and the best managers, with the best teams, because you want to stretch yourself all of the time. So no, I want to stay in that top pot for sure.
"I think we're in a position where we've got two games to go, and it's still all to play for, which is a good thing, and I think we can be encouraged by the performances.
“We should be sitting here with more points. We aren’t, and that's a fact, but we should be sitting here with more points, so I think there's a confidence within the group of saying, right, we've got two games to go, it's all to play for.
“I think there's an outside chance if results went our way - for example, we won both games - we might have a chance of finishing second. What we've done over the years is, we've worked hard to get ourselves into this position, which is fantastic, and we don't want to disappoint by coming out of that top group, because you only benefit.
“I keep saying this, you benefit [by playing] against the best teams, the best players, and our young players will develop.
“We've got quite a few young players who've come through from the under-21s, and they're gaining massive experience for the future.”
