STEVEN Naismith last night compared Nathan Patterson to his old Rangers and Scotland team mate Alan Hutton and backed the Everton right back to hit top form if he gets the nod to face Ukraine in the Qatar 2022 play-off semi-final.
Patterson has been sidelined since suffering an ankle injury that required surgery in training at the start of last month and was a surprise inclusion in Steve Clarke’s 28 man squad for the June internationals when it was announced last week.
It will boost the national team’s chances of winning at Hampden on Wednesday night if the 20-year-old defender, who moved to Goodison Park in a £12m transfer back in January, is named in the starting line-up.
He was outstanding at wing back during his country’s World Cup qualifying campaign; he helped them record vital victories over Moldova, Israel and the Faroe Islands, secure second spot in Group F and make it into the play-offs.
Clarke, whose men will go through to a play-off final against Wales in Cardiff on Sunday if they beat Ukraine, has warned the midweek match may come too soon for a player who has only been involved in 45 minutes of club football in 2022.
However, Scotland coach Naismith can recall how Hutton excelled whenever he donned the dark blue jersey during the spell that he was not involved with Aston Villa and he feels that Patterson can do exactly the same if he is passes a late fitness test.
Asked about the prospects of the youngster being involved against Ukraine, he said: “He’s got a chance because he has been on the pitch. The next two days will be more important for him in terms of seeing where exactly he is at.
“From what has been done so far, you’re not going to really get an idea. He’s going to turn up and be buzzing to be involved and the first few days he gets out there and it’s all great. It’s then how he recovers and how he feels and that will determine whether he’ll be involved or not.
“He’s in modified (training) at the moment, but with most players it’s guided for what they need. There are going to be parts he has to hit because that will declare whether he is feeling fine to play or not. But there doesn’t seem to be any issues with that.”
Naismith added: “It is 100 per cent in him. Even when he was at Rangers he didn’t play too many games so from that side of it he has that natural fitness.
“In that sense, I see him like Alan Hutton, who went through periods in his Scotland career where he didn’t play a lot of football. He was out of the picture at Villa for a long time but he still came and performed, and performed very well.
“If Nathan is fit and in the starting eleven you’re not worried at any point if he is going to play well or not, he has that natural youth and enthusiasm. And no matter how big this game is, he’ll easily manage to perform.
“There’s a lot of similarities between Alan and Nathan, I definitely think so. He’s very rangy, he’s comfortable going forward, he’s as much of an attacker as he is a defender.
“He’s a guy who is on that upward trajectory. I know from speaking to him, getting injured at Everton at that time was a killer for him. He was potentially going to get his chance there, he had been playing well for Scotland.
“He’s done all he can to be here. Again it just shows you the belief the players in the squad have got that they can progress.”
Naismith was disappointed when Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack had to withdraw from the Scotland squad on Saturday due to a calf injury – but he is confident that Clarke will be able to cope without the Europa League finalist and Scottish Cup winner due to the options he has in the centre of the park.
“It’s a big blow because Jacko has consistently year on year progressed into a mature leader, confident and comfortable on the ball,” he said. “At times for Scotland he and Callum McGregor have had a really good partnership.
“The only positive from Jacko being injured is we are covered in that area, it’s the strongest part of the team. That makes the blow slightly less, but for Jacko himself it’s a blow.
“It comes off back of the cup final where he played a part in winning it. So to get injured is not ideal, and with the magnitude of this game missing out is unfortunate.”
The Path A play-off semi-final was postponed back in March due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Scotland’s opponents have only managed to play three warm-up games using their home based players ahead of their Hampden meeting. Oleksandr Petrakov’s team faced Borussia Monchengladbach, Empoli and Rijeka in friendlies this month.
But Naismith believes the Clarke’s players will all know exactly what to expect when they take to the field on Wednesday night and insisted the motivation for them to triumph will be every bit as great as their rivals.
“On the whole we have an idea of how we think they’ll play, what their threats are, things we’ll need to look out for in terms of stopping them, making a stamp on the game,” he said. “But a lot of it will be down to us and how we want to play.
“We have got to use the fans. The anticipation for this game has probably dragged on from that time in March and it is finally coming. I would expect the atmosphere to be electric, there will be a lot of hope, a lot of confidence from everyone backing us.
“Then the players will feel that, they’ll want to be involved in it, and the work we are doing is what we believe is needed to get the win. I wouldn’t say the motivation is any less for us, not at all.”
