Former Dundee United star Stuart Armstrong admits there is “no hiding” from Scotland’s World Cup failure against Ukraine.
However, the Southampton midfielder insists the national side’s mentality is strong enough to lift themselves to success in crucial Nations League clashes this month.
The Scots face Armenia home and away with a trip to the Republic of Ireland sandwiched in between.
Though the three clashes come at the end of a gruelling club season and just days after their 3-1 play-off defeat, the importance of the competition is not lost on Steve Clarke’s squad.
The Nations League was the route Scotland used to get to Euro 2020 and Armstrong says Scotland can show their true ability over the next 10 days, kicking off with Armenia at Hampden on Wednesday.
“Of course, Wednesday night against Ukraine was a big disappointment,” Armstrong, who spent over five years at Dundee United, said.
“We’ve been thinking about the game, trying to get it out of our minds and learn from it.
“Tomorrow is a new day and we’ll look forward to the games coming up because we do know they are very important. It was the Nations League that helped us qualify for the Euros the last time round.
“There’s no hiding the fact that we wanted to go to a World Cup this year and now we’re not.
“But times have been good recently. We had a lot of big wins and we went to the Euros last summer.
“We’ve shown we can be a very good team and I’m sure we can show that again in the very near future.”
Strong mentality
Armstrong added: “It won’t be difficult to lift ourselves for these games.
“We’re used to having a lot of fixtures and sometimes they don’t go the way you wanted them to.
“On the pitch, it’s about mentality and this is a strong group of players with strong characters.
“There’s a lot of togetherness in that dressing-room.
“We’ll learn and move forward. We know the importance of these Nations League games.”
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