STEVE CLARKE admits he could DROP teen sensation Ben Doak for the must win clash with Poland.
The Scotland boss has revealed he’s wary of starting the 19-year-old in the make-or-break Warsaw crunch.
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Winger Doak was named man of the match for his fearless performance against Croatia at Hampden on Friday.
Clarke knows there would be huge surprise and disappointment among the Tartan Army if the Liverpool kid – on loan at Middlesbrough – is benched.
But he said: ”There would be – but that’s my job.
“As I sit here now – I haven’t named the team.
“All the boys who finished the game the other night, you have to take a look and make sure they wake up tomorrow morning fit, fresh and ready to go.
“That’s something else you have to think about.
“It would be tempting to name the same team.
“But you know us coaches, we always like to tinker a little bit and maybe change one or two things.
“I’ve got some ideas but obviously we are only on the second day of recovery so I haven’t named the team, the boys don’t know the team yet.
“But I have a fair idea in my head what it will look like.”
Doak terrorised Man City star Josko Gvardiol at Hampden on Friday night but Clarke insists he still had a lot to learn.
Asked if he can be the game-changer we need, the Scotland boss added: “He can be, as long as we look after the boy and make sure that he continues to develop.
“A lot of people see the good things that he does.
“Me and my coaching staff are a little bit more analytical.
“We’ll see other things that he doesn’t do quite so well because he’s only a young player and he’s looking to learn.
“I think he’s in a good environment at Middlesbrough in terms of learning the game and working on the game.
“When I watch his progress there, from when he got into the team until now, he’s improved already in my opinion.
“But there’s a lot to work on over the years.
“At the moment, you guys can all be excited about what he does with the ball.
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“There’s plenty of time for him to develop and it’s important not to put too much pressure on the boy.”
Clarke stood accused of getting his team and tactics wrong against Hungary at the Euros. Asked if he’s learned lessons from that night, he added: “You never know how a game is going to turn out.
“I didn’t know how it was going to play out against Hungary when I was setting up and I don’t know how it’s going to play out tomorrow night.
“I would expect a very open game because Poland like to attack.
“They have shown they can score goals and they’ve also shown they can concede goals so let’s hope for a good game and that we get the right result.”
Scotland still have an outside chance of finishing second in their Nations League group.
For that to happen Clarke’s side must beat Poland and hope Croatia don’t win against Portugal.
The reward would be a pot 1 spot in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers which would be a massive boost to the hopes of reaching the finals in North America.
Clarke added: “I think historically Scotland are always looking to get to the last couple of games thinking that’s when the campaign gets decided. That’s how it’s turned out in this campaign.
“When we set out in September in the Nations League the idea was to be in contention for something come the last two games.
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“And now we’ve got a realistic chance of staying in the top flight or at least getting to the play-offs. We’ll take that.”
