Erin Cuthbert joked that being able to slip seamlessly back into the vernacular of her homeland always feels like relaxing into familiar comforts. Pedro Martinez Losa will hope that the Chelsea midfielder’s football talks as well as she does as Scotland host The Netherlands this evening at Hampden on the back of a bruising 4-0 defeat on Friday night.
Cuthbert missed that game and the two opening Nations League games before them; a calf injury disrupted her season before a niggling quad issue kept her grounded from the game against the Dutch.
She has declared herself fit and available and, with no Caroline Weir, Sam Kerr or Emma Watson, her straight-talking influence will be monumental for Scotland, a fact appreciated by Martinez Losa; “I think players like Erin are the soul of the team,” said the Spaniard.
Certainly, the 25-year-old is itching to get the boots back on after the frustration of watching from the sidelines. Scotland have taken just one point so far from the campaign – a last gasp draw against Belgium – with Cuthbert badly missed.
“It was terribly frustrating. I was kicking every ball on Friday,” she said. “I think when you have time out you are even more eager to make an impression when you come back and I have come back with the bit between my teeth. The last three games I have watched from my own sofa which is difficult because I have always been used to being in camp. I have not enjoyed it.”
Cuthbert’s vantage point did allow her to make certain observations about Friday night’s performance which she was not slow at sharing with her team-mates as she hooked up with them on Saturday. “We need to be brave and not panic,” she said. “We need to instil that confidence in one another. We all had a discussion and I won’t shy away from things,” she said. “I am the first to put my hand up when I make a mistake but I expect the same standard from everyone else. The girls already know.
“They have a dressing room full of international experience. They know that was not good enough. They don’t need anyone to tell them that they weren’t at the level that is expected from a national team. Everyone knows we were half a yard off. We are looking for a reaction now. We pride ourselves that we make ourselves difficult to beat.
“They know that was not good enough. They don’t need anyone to tell them that they weren’t at the level that is expected from a national team.”
