Scotland coach Steve Clarke acknowledges that his players had to rally around each other following the 4-0 defeat against the Netherlands.
Clarke, whose team will take on Northern Ireland at Hampden Park on Tuesday, admits that he tends to dwell on losses longer than the players do.
The 60-year-old coach stated that he would likely prioritize securing a win over delivering a strong performance against Northern Ireland.
“They move on a little bit quicker – I probably have a bit more to think about than they have,” said Clarke.
“They have reacted well. When we had the debrief about the game, they understood the points I was making. They will take the messages on board and hopefully we can show we are improving.
“Within 24 to 36 hours you are ready for the next game, you are looking for the next game.
“I get the mood among the players that they just want the chance to get on the pitch on Tuesday night and look to improve and maybe put right the things that went wrong for us in the last stages of the game on Friday.”
Scotland’s winless streak has now reached six games following the humbling 4-0 defeat against the Netherlands, during which they conceded 18 goals.
In these six matches, Scotland suffered losses to European powerhouses such as France, England, and the Netherlands in friendly matches, as well as a qualifier against Spain.
Clarke says his team are “still searching for that improvement that can close the gap on the top sides”.
“Hopefully as we are striving to reach the top sides we are looking to move further away from the sides that are seeded below us,” he said.
“That has to be our objective. We are a pot two team now but we have to be a better pot two team and eventually we have to try to latch on to the pot one teams.
“There was a lot that we did like [against the Netherlands]. A lot of what we spoke about in training we transferred to the pitch and it worked well for a long time in the game.
“When you stop doing what you have been working on and switch off towards the end of the game, against the top teams especially you get punished.”
Clarke, whose side open Euro 2024 in just 11 weeks’ time against Germany on 14 June is “in no doubt we will get both” a good performance and a positive result against Michael O’Neill’s improving Northern Ireland.
“They are a young team, a progressive team,” said Clarke.
“Michael is quite good at talking his team down, but they are very competitive. They don’t lose games by a big margin.”
