James McFadden has lauded Scotland’s new-found strength in depth after Gordon Strachan’s troops gave world champions Germany an almighty scare in their own back yard.
Scotland were without vice-captain Scott Brown, £7 million man Robert Snodgrass, Andrew Robertson and Graham Dorrans for the testing trip to Dortmund.
However, it took a scrappy close-range strike from Thomas Muller to secure a 2-1 win for Germany after Ikechi Anya had equalised.
And McFadden, who is seventh in the list of all-time marksmen for the national side with 15 goals, says that display shows Scotland have an impressive pool of talent to choose from.
“That performance was without key players like Scott Brown and Robert Snodgrass,” said the former Motherwell and Everton star.
“They are massive players that you are going to miss. But we had others who came into the fold and they just slotted in perfectly and did a job for Gordon.
“I think that is a big statement to the rest of the squad. If someone drops out then another player needs to come in and take their chance and that’s what happened against Germany.
“You want to have players who are ready to step up and show they are worthy of a place. That is always the biggest indication of how strong a squad really is.”