Steve Clarke revealed the Scotland players had to pick him up following Friday’s 4-0 friendly defeat against Netherlands in Amsterdam.
The visitors more than matched their more illustrious opponents for the best part of 70 minutes but a sobering scoreline extended the Scots’ winless runs to six games.
Ahead of the friendly against Northern Ireland at Hampden Park, which also acts as part of the build-up to this summer’s Euro 2024 in Germany, Clarke reflected on a “peculiar game”.
Clarke said: “They (the players) have had to pick me up.
“I tend to sulk a little bit longer than they do, they move on a little bit quicker than I do because I probably have a little bit more to think about than they have.
“They have reacted well. When we had the de-brief 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 24/36 hours, you are ready for the next game, you are looking for the next game.
“I get the feeling, I get the mood amongst 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 night.
“A win would be nice, a clean sheet would be nice as well. We want to play well and obviously we want to win.
“If I am being honest a win is probably more important but I think we can get both and I have no doubt we will get both.”
The Scots have now lost friendlies to European heavyweights France, England and Netherlands as well as a qualifier against Spain but Clarke believes those experiences have been beneficial.
The former West Brom and Kilmarnock boss said: “All the games we have played, the friendly matches against difficult opposition and obviously two difficult matches against Spain in the qualifiers, they have served us well.
“We are still searching for that improvement that can close the gap a little bit on the top sides in Europe.
“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.
“That has to be our objective all the time. We are a pot two team now but we have to be a better pot two team and eventually we have to try latch on to the pot one teams, that has to be the aim.
“There was a lot that we did like, 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 and you get punished heavily and that’s what happened.”
Clarke is looking forward to taking on Michael O’Neill’s side, who are fresh from an encouraging 1-1 draw away to Romania on Friday night.
He said: “They are a young team, progressive team, Michael is quite good at talking his team down but they are very competitive. They don’t lose games by a big margin.
“They beat Denmark 2-0 at Windsor Park in their last qualifier and we got a little bit excited when we beat Denmark 2-0 at Hampden.
“They went to Romania which is a tough place to go with a young side and got a good 1-1 draw so we expect a tough challenge.”
Italiano confirms Fiorentina exit after Atalanta victory
Vincenzo Italiano confirmed he is leaving Europa Conference League runners-up Fiorentina after they ended their Serie A campaign with a 3-2 win at Atalanta on Sunday.
Italiano took charge of Fiorentina in 2021 and has led them to three successive top-eight finishes in Serie A, also reaching the Europa Conference League final in back-to-back campaigns.
However, they were beaten by a last-gasp Jarrod Bowen goal as West Ham lifted the trophy last year, then lost out to Olympiacos in extra time in the 2023-24 final.
The Viola wrapped up their campaign with an impressive 3-2 win at Atalanta in a rescheduled fixture on Sunday, after which he announced his departure.
"We all took this decision together not many weeks ago," Italiano told reporters after Sunday's game. "You reach a certain point where you have to stop.
"I'm convinced whoever arrives will be able to continue a path that will leave something improved, I hope I have left something to this group, I think they have been three positive years.
"The only regret was not having added the trophy, but as [Atalanta coach Gian Piero] Gasperini told me, these paths are worthwhile and will be remembered."
Reflecting on Fiorentina's latest European near miss, Italiano said he was confident his team would come out on top if the game was replayed.
He also said he regretted being unable to end a traumatic season with silverware, with the club being rocked by the death of general manager Joe Barone in March.
"I would play Olympiacos again tonight, we were all convinced we could beat them. We all believed we could reach the end of the cycle but we didn't succeed," Italiano said.
"The saddest moment was the loss of our director, the worst moment since I was in football. The love we had for him pushed us towards an emotional ending."
De Jong unsure on fitness ahead of Euro 2024
Frenkie de Jong is unsure whether he will be fit for the Netherlands' Euro 2024 opener against Poland as he continues his recovery from an ankle injury.
De Jong was included in Ronald Koeman's final 26-man squad for the Euros despite an ankle issue preventing him from featuring for Barcelona since April 21.
The midfielder was limited to just 30 appearances in all competitions through 2023-24, as the Blaugrana finished a distant second to Real Madrid in LaLiga and exited the Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
He is yet to join in with team training despite linking up with his international team-mates ahead of warm-up matches against Canada and Iceland.
Speaking to reporters after going through an individual session on Sunday, De Jong said: "I'm not fit yet, so I can't say I'm doing well.
"The ankle is fine in itself but it just needs to recover properly because it shouldn't become something chronic.
"I'm not doing anything with the team yet. I am doing physio and recovery training, individual training.
"We just have to wait and see how the ankle goes. Then we will see when I can join in."
Asked if he expected to face Poland in the Oranje's Group D opener on June 16, De Jong said: "That is always the question.
"If you are not completely fit now and are not training with the group, then the question is always when and if you will make it. No one knows exactly.
"I really cannot say when. That's not because I don't want to and know it myself. It's just difficult to say."
Euro 2024 will be the Netherlands' 11th participation at UEFA's flagship international tournament, and they won the competition when it was last hosted solely in Germany, beating the Soviet Union in the 1988 final.
Atalanta 2-3 Fiorentina: Scalvini injured as La Dea miss chance to finish third
Italy defender Giorgio Scalvini was forced off injured as Atalanta failed to secure a third-place finish in Serie A on Sunday, being substituted late on in a 3-2 loss to Fiorentina.
The Europa League winners faced the Europa Conference League runners-up in Bergamo one week after the rest of the league played their final games of 2023-24, with the teams unable to meet before now due to their European commitments.
A victory would have taken Gian Piero Gasperini's team – who were guaranteed a top-four finish – above Juventus into third, but Andrea Belotti put them behind within six minutes.
Ademola Lookman raced clear to equalise with a dinked finish within six further minutes, but Nicolas Gonzalez's fine volley soon re-established the Viola's lead.
Scalvini drilled in a terrific shot to pull Atalanta level again shortly after the hour mark, but his game would later end in tears as he was helped from the field with an apparent knee issue – a major concern for Italy less than two weeks out from their Euro 2024 opener.
Belotti had put Fiorentina back in the lead following a goalmouth scramble on the stroke of half-time, and Atalanta were unable to force a leveller in the second period as their fine season ended on a flat note.
Data Debrief: Thrilling end to Serie A season
Sunday's game – the final Serie A contest of 2023-24 – saw more first-half goals scored than any other match in the competition this term. Belotti got two of the five, and he now has seven goal involvements (six goals, one assist) in his last six league games against Atalanta.
The result is just a minor inconvenience for La Dea, though. They have finished in Serie A's top four for just the fifth time in their history, previously doing so in 2016-17 (fourth), 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 (all third).
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