SM
West Ham vs. Liverpool: 14 hrs 3 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
Collect News Data

Scotland boss Steve Clarke not worried about further coronavirus scares

:Headline: Scotland boss Steve Clarke not worried about further coronavirus scares:
The Sheffield United midfielder will play no part in Scotland's friendly against Holland on Wednesday.
Sports Mole

Steve Clarke is confident Scotland will face no further Covid scares despite seeing John Fleck forced into quarantine just 13 days before their Euro 2020 opener.

Sheffield United midfielder Fleck has returned a positive test for the virus after joining up with Clarke's squad in Spain for their pre-tournament training camp.

Fleck will now follow Spanish coronavirus rules and self-isolate at the Scots' training base in La Finca – meaning he will play no part as the team hop across the border to Portugal for their opening warm-up friendly against Holland at the Estadio Algarve on Wednesday night.

With the Scots due to kick-off their first major tournament in 23 years back home in Glasgow against the Czech Republic on June 14, this is the scenario Clarke has been dreading.

But the Scotland boss has been reassured by the Scottish Football Association's medical team that Fleck is likely to have arrived in camp already carrying coronavirus in his system.

And even though he flew out on the same flight from Glasgow Airport as the rest of the squad last Thursday, social distancing measures put in place on the plane have ensured the other 23 members of the team that have met up so far have returned a full sweep of negative results.

"John's fine," said Clarke. "No symptoms. Obviously he's got to isolate for a few days now but we'll keep an eye on him, we'll look after him as we do with everybody. Hopefully it stops there.

"Looking at the information we've got and relying on the doctors for the medical opinion we're 99 per cent sure that John brought it into the camp, it came with him.

"It's just one of those things with the state of the world at this moment with the pandemic.

"We just have to deal with it, as other countries might have to deal with it as well.

"John will be in isolation until he returns a couple of negative tests. I'm not quite sure what the guidelines are in Spain in terms of the number of days he will have to isolate for.

"But we'll be testing every day with John and waiting for him to return a few negative tests.

"For everyone else, it's just carry on as normal and continue the good work. The thing I don't want is for this isolated case to overshadow the good work that we've done.

"We've had good preparation. The training has been fantastic. The boys are in a great place and we're working forward to the game tomorrow night.

"We all want to avoid the virus as much as we can and that's certainly no different within the camp.

"We'll have to be reactive to certain situations but there's no point stressing about it.

"There are certain situations that you can't control. We can control the lads in training, preparation for the matches and hopefully a good performance tomorrow night against the Dutch."

Fleck will now be absent for the Holland clash along with Chelsea midfielder Billy Gilmour and Manchester United counterpart Scott McTominay following their involvement in last week's European finals.

But Clarke is hopeful he will have a full squad to chose from by the time they face Luxembourg on June 6 in what will be the team's final dress rehearsal before the finals start.

And he believes this week's friendlies are the perfect preparation as his side look to become the first Scottish team to make the knock-out stages at a major competition.

Clarke – whose side also face England and Croatia in Group D – said: "We wanted one game that would challenge us and certainly the Dutch game will do that. The Luxembourg game will challenge us in a different way.

"The way the Dutch play is not dissimilar to the way that certainly England play, and maybe a little bit like Croatia as pot one teams.

"It should be a good workout for us in terms of the friendly and a good workout for us in terms of the games coming up in the tournament.

"We're slowly, slowly getting towards where we want to be, which is the first game of the tournament. It's a process and we're working towards that.

"There's a good feeling in the camp. There's obviously a little bit of deflation when you get the news about John, everybody feels that a little bit.

"It's come early enough though, so it shouldn't affect our preparations too much."

body check tags ::

amp_article__449819 : Collect and Make Data not in DataBase  : 
last updated article - 2021-06-01 13:03:14:
html db last update - 2021-06-01 12:56:07 :

ex - 7200 : read : write cache and make html

Click here for more stories about John Fleck

Click here for more stories about Scotland

Share this article now:
SU
Read Next:
Scotland's John Fleck tests positive for coronavirus
>


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!
Read more about John Fleck Steve Clarke Scott McTominay Football
Follow @SportsMole for the latest breaking news stories, and follow @sm_headlines to get every headline from Sports Mole
Recommended Next on SM
Scotland's John Fleck tests positive for coronavirus
Liverpool reach agreement with Feyenoord over Arne Slot fee

Page options

Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Arsenal34245582265677
2Manchester CityMan City33237380324876
3Liverpool34228475344174
4Aston Villa34206871502166
5Tottenham HotspurSpurs32186865491660
6Manchester UnitedMan Utd33165125150153
7Newcastle UnitedNewcastle331551369541550
8West Ham UnitedWest Ham34139125463-948
9Chelsea32138116157447
10Bournemouth34129134960-1145
11Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton331111115254-244
12Wolverhampton WanderersWolves34127154654-843
13Fulham34126165054-442
14Crystal Palace34109154456-1239
15Brentford3498175259-735
16Everton34118153648-1233
17Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest3479184260-1826
18Luton TownLuton3467214775-2825
19Burnley3458213769-3223
20Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd3437243392-5916
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.

history www

Chelsea 'join race for in-demand manager after Liverpool snub'

1

C'

Arsenal 'open contract talks with key defender'

2

A'

Preview: St Mirren vs. Rangers - prediction, team news, lineups

NEW

3

PS

Preview: Darmstadt vs. Heidenheim - prediction, team news, lineups

NEW

4

PD

Spurs vs. Arsenal: Head-to-head record and past meetings

5

SV

Son Heung-min's record vs. Arsenal

6

SH

Preview: Spurs vs. Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

7

PS

Preview: Frosinone vs. Salernitana - prediction, team news, lineups

8

PF

Arteta provides Timber fitness update ahead of North London derby

9

AP

Chelsea looking to extend 34-year streak against Villa

10

CL


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .