STEVE Clarke has stated that Ryan Fraser is completely committed to Scotland after recalling the Newcastle United player to his squad for the Nations League matches against Ukraine and the Republic of Ireland.
Fraser angered members of the Tartan Army last November when he was pictured in training with Newcastle just days after pulling out of the important Qatar 2022 qualifier against Moldova in Chisinau due to injury.
The 28-year-old had declared himself unavailable for selection for the Euro 2020 qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana in 2019 – a match which the national team lost 3-0 – because the game was being played on an artificial pitch.
However, Clarke, whose team is in second spot in Group B1 after three fixtures, has dismissed accusations the 22-times capped winger lacks commitment to his country.
“I think that’s unfair,” he said. “In March (before the friendlies against Poland and Austria) I had a discussion with Ryan. He wasn’t playing at Newcastle and it was better for him to stay there and get himself in the team.
“Then he would be selected based on performances for Newcastle. He was injured in the summer so I couldn’t pick him then. Now he’s in the team and performing well at the start of the season and he’s in the squad. He improves the squad.”
Asked about Fraser being photographed training with Newcastle before the Moldova match, Clarke said: “It’s just a picture. You can always go on the training pitch even though you’ve got an injury.
“He probably wasn’t training flat out, but would have been working towards his recovery. If I wasn’t totally satisfied (about his commitment) he wouldn’t be in the squad.”
Clarke is keen for Scotland to bounce back from the disappointing defeats they suffered at the hands of Ukraine and the Republic of Ireland back in June – his team lost 3-1 in the Qatar 2022 play-off semi-final at Hampden and then 3-0 in a Nations League match in Dublin – in the forthcoming double header.
“For the first time in a couple of years we stuttered in the summer,” he said. “We didn’t play well against Ukraine or the Republic of Ireland.
“We didn’t actually play that well against Armenia away either but we showed great character to come back from an early blow in that game. I have to commend the lads for that as it was a tough place to go. We ended up winning 4-1 which is a good result.
“But the two games that we lost we certainly didn’t play as well as we could. I said at the time there were circumstances around that, but it’s better to move on and look at these games and say: ‘Let’s put that behind us and show everyone how good we are’. Hopefully we can do that in the games coming up.”
