Kenny McLean insists he’ll ‘never show that disappointment’ when not selected to play for Scotland.
The Norwich City midfielder has started in the last four consecutive matches for his country after only a handful of starts in the last 18 months.
The 32-year-old was lauded for his performance in midfield against Portugal on Tuesday night. While the result was a draw, it felt like a step in the right direction for Steve Clarke and his players after three Nations League defeats on the bounce.
The record remains one win in the last 16 games, though, but with Croatia and Poland up next in November, former St Mirren and Aberdeen midfielder McLean is eager to finish the campaign on a high before attentions turn to World Cup qualifying.
“You can see the quality they’ve got, the quality they bring on,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tough. We had to dig in. We could have done better at times.
“I think we’ve played better in the last few games, to be honest, and we didn’t get anything. Maybe we deserved that.
“I have waited a long time, but I’ll never show that disappointment. I’m in the manager’s plans. I always have been and he’s always shown that faith and confidence in me. I’ve always had responsibility from the manager.
“Obviously, starting more games now, it’s probably just match news that people see.
“But behind the scenes I’m always trying to help everybody as much as I can. I do that at club level as well. I come away here and I think the manager trusts that I’ll make people around the world better.
“At this moment in time, I find myself in the team and I’m just going to try and do everything I can to stay there.
“The next couple of games are going to be lasting for us. It’s ones I think we can definitely look at the games we’ve just played, the Croatia game and then last month the Poland game.
“I think in large spells of the game we’ve done a lot of good stuff. so it’s just about those fine margins and putting the things right and in both boxes being more clinical.
“I think that’s where we need to dust up on because at this level you get punished for maybe not even mistakes, sometimes small errors and that’s the difference.”
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One player McLean knows very well is club and national team compatriot Grant Hanley.
The centre-back kept Cristiano Ronaldo quiet all evening during mid-week.
It follows on from last month’s international fixtures when the defender was chastised for giving away a penalty in the final moments of a 3-2 defeat to Poland. Additionally, Hanley hasn’t managed to get back into his club team either.
“That’s proper character,” McLean said. “That’s big nuts. I think what makes it more impressive is the fact that he’s not playing back at club level.
“He’s not played since the last game. Especially in that position, not to have that momentum coming into games and being brought on out of the cold as such, it must be tough.
“But that’s what he lives for, coming on big occasions like that and balls coming in the box and he’s going to be there.
“He’s my captain back at Norwich and he’s not playing right now and he’s still such a huge influence around the place.
“That’s another leader we have here and the manager is always going to trust the responsibility he puts on Grant as well.
“He’ll always do, like the rest of us, as much as he can for his country.”
