Newcastle winger Matt Ritchie believes Scotland will improve under Alex McLeish

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Scotland’s Newcastle wide man Matt Ritchie has full faith in Alex McLeish’s ability to transform the national team.

Matt Ritchie, Scott McTominay and Grant Hanley have been released from the Scotland camp due to injuries sustained during the loss to Costa Rica on Friday.

Ritchie has been in fine form for Newcastle as of late and the Magpies will be hoping he can get back fit for their Easter weekend clash against Huddersfield at home, and despite being unable to play a part in his country’s second friendly against Hungary tomorrow evening, the winger is confident that Alex McLeish is the right man to lead the Tartan Army forward.

As reported in The Herald, the Newcastle man explained that whether it is a club side or international side, it takes time for a team to gel under a new manager, citing the international stage as being even more time pressured due to the lack of time spent as a squad throughout the season.

“We’ve only had three days training with he manager and he’s trying to get over completely new ideas,” Ritchie told The Herald.

“There’s players from different clubs and to get to know them takes time. I think games like Costa Rica is a good exercise for that.

“You can see even within a game small improvements. Look at the second half compared tot he first half and there were improvements. If we continue to progress that quickly then we can be ready for the qualifiers.”

With the likes of James Forrest, Jamie Murphy and Tom Cairney as competition in the current squad, not to mention Robert Snodgrass who will likely be named in future squads, the competition for places on the wing for Scotland is pretty fierce, which will provide all the more incentive for Ritchie to continue improving and performing at club level.