John Carver believes there's been an extra competitive edge to Scotland training during the recent camp - with the battle to be part of the Euro 2024 squad heating up.
Scotland travel to face The Netherlands in Amsterdam on Friday before welcoming Northern Ireland to Hampden Park on Tuesday. Boss Steve Clarke can only take 23-men to the Euros in Germany this summer, and has already confessed that he will be leaving several stars disappointed.
Clarke has named four goalkeepers in his latest 25-strong roster despite him only requiring three when the major tournament kicks-off in June. Celtic captain Callum McGregor is also absent from this camp, as is Brentford full-back Aaron Hickey, Luton Town striker Jacob Brown, and Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack, who have all been a part of Clarke's previous squads.
That's left Scotland coaches with a selection dilemma but assistant manager Carver reckons the added incentive will make winning the upcoming friendly double-header even more important.
READ MORE: Grant Hanley out of Scotland squad for friendly double-header
He said: "They've come back, they've reset, and they are ready focused because we need to get back to winning ways, don't we. We've had a couple draws and we've had some big games against some big nations in the world, obviously France, Spain and England. So we need to get back to winning ways against another pot A side in the Netherlands so I'm looking forward to that.
"We are trying to put the Euros at the moment on the back burner, but as you can imagine, there's an awful lot of things going on that we have to look after.
"The guys have had a couple days on the training ground, it's been very good. It's been very enthusiastic and you can see there's a competitive edge there because Steve (Clarke) has already come out and said what he's said about we can only take 23 players away so it's very competitive."
READ MORE: Scotland injury update on Hickey, Hanley and McKenna
Heart of Midlothian forward Lawrence Shankland has been the man on the Tartan Army's lips, with the 28-year-old topping the Scottish Premiership scoring charts this season.
Carver admits he's watched Shankland a lot recently, including Hearts' memorable 2-0 win over title holders Celtic at the beginning of March. And he's been left impressed by what he's witnessed, claiming his ability to find the net is worth his weight in gold.
He stated: "I think he's been great. I've watched quite a bit of Hearts lately, both Steve and myself were up there when they beat Celtic and he just gets himself in the right areas. He's a goalscorer.
"You know people talk about 'he doesn't do this' or 'doesn't do that' but you know what he does? He scores goals, and they are worth their weight in gold.
"It's something that we do need so he's going to add competition with Che (Adams) and Lyndon (Dykes), which is important."
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