Scotland's 'most exciting player' giving Steve Clarke a problem to solve - but genetics no longer an issue

The 19-year-old winger started Scotland's last four matches before the end of the year, emerging as a key player in the Nations League A turnaround that saw Clarke's side collect seven points from the last 12 available to avoid direct relegation to Nations League B and book a two-legged play-off against Greece in March to retain top tier status.

Clarke switched to four at the back for those matches, which included a goalless draw against Portugal and back-to-back wins over Croatia and Poland, ditching the three-man defence which had become his staple and allowed both Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson to operate at left centre-back and left wing-back respectively.

The change in shape gave Doak licence to be deployed as an out-and-out winger, however, with Tierney now back from injury, Clarke could choose to return to his previously preferred system for the Greece double-header which would make it more difficult for Doak to play his natural position.

Strachan hailed the Liverpool youngster, who is on a season-long loan at Middlesbrough, as the nation's "most exciting player" and reckons that regardless of what formation Scotland play, he simply has to be included in the starting XI, providing he recovers from the thigh injury that has kept him sidelined since the end of January.

"Right, where do we fit him in? And that's Steve's problem," Strachan said. "If you see him midfield, you've got a back five. I actually think he's a player that you go, ‘Right, just go and get on the ball and play somewhere.’ Whether it's wide, whether it's inside, whether you want to go up front, fine. You want to have a player like that. When he develops and we've got another year of development, then you can say, go and play anywhere. You might have one striker and have him floating about off the front somewhere else. There's three behind, wide full backs.

"It's great for Steve to have a player like that. People have been crying out for a player like that, who can make things happen. Because most of the goals are scored as a unit, rather than with individual brilliance, but now I think we've actually got a player with individual brilliance. You can't be asking Doak to just stand on the wing because there'll be times where we'll not have enough of the ball. You have to go and find it and do something with it. So that's the conundrum I think Steve needs to resolve. He's got this great, smashing player. How do we get him on the ball as much as we'd like? I don't want to put pressure on him. We don't want to put pressure on the young man because he is very young, but he’s also a very exciting player."

Back in 2017, after narrowly missing out on a World Cup play-off following a 2-2 draw in Slovenia, Strachan claimed Scottish players were 'genetically too small' and that this was a problem for his team.

Strachan himself was on the short side as a player, measuring up at 5ft 6in, much like Doak, who stands at just three inches taller at 5ft 9in. However, the ex-Celtic and Southampton boss insists that a lack of height is not an issue for Clarke's current squad and has backed them to overcome Greece over the two legs next month.

Speaking to Genting Casino, Strachan added: "Listen, they're a tight group. They're a reasonably physical group, because I remember years ago that the physique of the side was an issue, that's not a problem now. Billy Gilmour is probably the smallest, but John McGinn, [Scott] McTominay… we've got a back three now, a good height. We've got [Lyndon] Dykes up front. There's a bit of power about Scotland now, which makes them very, very hard to beat. The system they play, Tierney can go back and play at left centre-back in a three, you've got Robertson over there, so that's nice, that's good. The rest of them are not at the top level, but strong physically. Set plays we’re good at, no defence would do well against that sort of thing. So, we're hard to beat, we're really hard to beat. Why can’t we beat Greece in back-to-back games."