Scotland's Kenny McLean, John Souttar, Kieran Tierney and Lewis Ferguson. Get the latest Celtic news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter More Newsletters Subscribe Please enter a valid email Something went wrong, please try again later. More Newsletters We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show me See Our Privacy Notice See Our Privacy Notice × Group 28 Get the latest Celtic news sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter Invalid email Something went wrong, please try again later. Sign Up No thanks, close We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice Ryan Christie reckons
Scotland might have unintentionally eased off the gas after booking their place at the Euros . But the playmaker is determined to get the foot down again to get motoring for Germany. Scotland raced their way to the big stage and qualified with games to spare. But the wheels have wobbled a tad in recent months with draws against Georgia and Norway and defeats to powerhouses
Spain,
France,
England and the 4-0 stuffing by the Netherlands in Amsterdam the other night. Boss Steve Clarke is refusing to panic but shipping 18 goals in half a dozen winless games is not exactly the confidence boost we were looking for on the way to squaring up with the hosts, plus Switzerland and Hungary in the group stages this June. Christie is aware of it too. He is convinced Scotland still know how to win when it matters – and that is now exactly what is required against Northern
Ireland at Hampden on Tuesday. Read More Related Articles Lawrence Shankland admonished by Monday Jury who make appeal for Scotland to be brave Read More Related Articles What channel is Scotland vs Northern Ireland? Live stream, TV and kick off details for friendly with an edge Christie said: “Yeah. We are trying to drive our standards up. You look at the Georgia and Norway games at the end of the qualifiers, if everything was aligned I would imagine there would have been different scorelines. “It was a nice feeling to be able to sit back knowing we’d already qualified but now it’s prep for the Euros. The last few friendlies have been against top teams in Europe. We are trying to learn as much as we can to get to their level. That will help us going into the summer. We were all pretty frustrated with the result the other night, him included. With it ending 4-0, the main message was this can’t happen with how well we played. “For the most part he’s the same as when we are playing well. He’s very good at humbling us and keeping our feet on the ground. After night’s like the other one, you can’t get too down after the qualifying campaign we had. We have a big tournament coming up, but he’s made it clear he wants us to get back to winning ways on Tuesday. “Everyone is desperate for the game now. We’re obviously desperate to have a bit of a reaction. There are a few people talking about the lack of wins recently. We’ve been in the nice position of not really needing to win games because we did the business early on in the qualifiers. But going into the Euros – and such a big stage like
Germany in the opening game – you want to go there with as many wins behind you as you can.” Scotland could do with building up a head of steam. A few eyebrows were raised at the choice of friendly opponents from now on in, with the Northern
Irish, Gibraltar and Finland next in line for tune up tussles. But those games are now looking like a godsend on the back of a gruelling run that have brought the nation back to reality with a hefty thud. Christie wants a clean sweep to take to Munich for the opener against Germany on June 14 and he said: “I would say momentum is important. We want to be in as good a place as we can be. Scotland's Ryan Christie hits the crossbar (Image: SNS Group) "For the most part the other night I felt we more than matched them. If anything we were the better team for 60 minutes. There were plenty of positives. The game can’t end 4-0, that’s the main thing though. “If you go and do that in the Euros, you’ll struggle to get back in a group. These are the lessons to take into the summer. Everyone is desperate to bounce back, first and foremost. A few boys in the changing room said it, it’s time we won a game again. We are desperate to put it right and we have the two other friendlies before the Euros. Hopefully we can go three out of three.” There’s no need for total doom and gloom around Scotland despite the tough streak. There were plenty of positive moments for more than an hour in Amsterdam before it all got rather messy. Christie’s display was one of them. The former Celtic ace is enjoying an impressive season at Bournemouth in the English
Premier League and flourishing in a new deeper role in the midfield. The 29-year-old was back in a more advanced position for Clarke against the Dutch but he’s got the look of a player in top form. Christie is determined to keep it going in the battle for starting spots in the big opener. He said: “I don’t think it’s just me. A few boys in the squad are flying right now. “Hopefully that continues between now and the summer. If you can keep up the club form you will go to Germany feeling good. Ryan Christie in action for Scotland "The frustrating thing for me the other night was not scoring from one of those headers. I’m sure a few of the boys feel the same with the chances we had. I’m not sure how we didn’t score. “You need to make them count against these teams. It’s something we need to put right on Tuesday and in the games to come. It’s been strange. It came around because of an injury crisis but I don’t think there’s any turning back. It might be the classic getting deeper as you get older. "But I’m loving it. The manager at club level has been amazing with me and I’ve managed to play a lot of games this season and gain a bit of consistency. It was a different position the other night but when it comes to Scotland, I’m happy to play anywhere.” Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Follow Daily Record
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