Andy Robertson has been upset by the lack of respect shown to his team ahead of England clash but urges Scotland players to seize the opportunity to silence their critics

Andy Robertson has urged Scotland to seize the opportunity to silence their critics against England on Friday night.

Many TV pundits and commentators have written off Steve Clarke’s side ahead of the crunch Euro 2020 clash at Wembley following Monday’s opening 2-0 defeat to Czech Republic.

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But skipper Robertson, speaking on the day injured Kieran Tierney admitted his chances of making the game are ‘touch and go’, has been upset by the lack of respect shown to his team - and says he regards a clash with the Auld Enemy as the perfect fixture to prove a point.

Andy Robertson has urged Scotland to seize the opportunity to silence critics against England

‘I think we’re probably more respected now because we’ve qualified for a tournament and (had) gone a lot of games unbeaten,’ Robertson told Sky Sports.

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‘But we’re still not as respected as much as we would all like.

‘So a chance to play against them (England) is a chance to show people who doubt Scottish football what we can do.

‘We did that in 2017 (the 2-2 draw in a World Cup qualifier at Hampden). We gave them a tough game and we’ll need the same application and performance levels.

‘We were good that day, we followed our game plan and we will need to do that again to get anything off England.’

Robertson played in that last competitive fixture between the two nations, when two late free-kicks by Leigh Griffiths were cancelled out by a stoppage-time equaliser from Kane.

Many TV pundits have written off Steve Clarke’s side ahead the England game on Friday
However, he regards a clash with the Auld Enemy as the perfect fixture to prove a point

Admitting Scotland will need to be at their absolute best to get a similar result this time, the Liverpool defender added: ‘That England game was definitely the best atmosphere I’ve played in, in terms of a Scotland game.

‘I’ve never heard noise like that at Hampden when Griffiths put in those free-kicks and I’ve probably also never heard a stadium go quiet so quickly when Harry Kane equalised.

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‘They showed they have the quality that day and that they can go to the end, but I think we’ve adapted since that day.

‘A lot has changed since then, there aren’t many players left in our squad from that day, and a lot has changed in the England squad, too.

‘It’ll be a tough game, they’re one of the favourites to win the tournament and to beat us.

‘But if we can get our game plan right and cause them problems up the other end, I do believe we can get a result.

‘But we need to be at our best. That’s a given.’

It remains to be seen if key man Tierney will play his part after a calf injury saw him miss Monday’s gut-wrenching loss to the Czechs in Group D.

Despite training with Scots team-mates yesterday, however, the Arsenal defender rates his prospects of lining up against the Auld Enemy at Wembley no higher than 50-50.

Although, he does admit he has been upset by the lack of respect shown to his team
Robertson also admitted Kieran Tierney's chances of making the game are ‘touch and go’

Conceding that the final call on his fitness could go right to the wire, Tierney said: ‘I’m getting better. I trained today, I’ll train tomorrow and the decision will probably be made tomorrow afternoon or even on Friday before the game.

‘I did most of the training. It was more of a precaution to not do everything to the end, but I did most of it.’

Tierney feared his dream of competing at Euro 2020 had floundered in April when he sustained a knee injury playing for Arsenal. Despite battling back to fitness, the calf problem reared up 48 hours before the Czech opener

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‘It’s just so unlucky because I worked so hard to get back from my knee injury.

‘I came back quickly for that, played a few games. I don’t know if those few games caught up with me and I just got a wee niggle. That’s all it is, just a niggle. It’s touch and go.

‘The pain itself probably wouldn’t stop you playing. It’s if you played on it, it could get a lot, lot worse and you could get out for a lengthy time. You can’t risk it, not with calves.’

Forced to watch the 2-0 defeat to the Czechs from his hotel room in a quest to be fit for the England showdown, the former Celtic defender admits he would feel even worse if he missed the trip to Wembley as well.

‘It will probably be worse because the idea of missing that game was to be ready for Friday,’ he said.

‘But football doesn’t always work like that. It is not always ideal, you have setbacks and I’ve had plenty of them. It’s just about how you react and bounce back. I’m bouncing back from a big disappointment as well so we’ll see how I feel.’