Steve Clarke's Scotland evolution needs to speed up or familiar problem will be waiting for successor to solve

Evolution takes place over millions of years as species change and adapt to their environments.

If that's the pace of change we're looking at with Scotland, then Steve Clarke could find himself in endangered territory before long. He included some fresh faces in the Nations League squad to face Poland, but in what has been a theme of Clarke's tenure, kept them on the bench whist sticking with what he knows in the starting XI.

That was the main Tartan Army bugbear when the team was announced. Clarke was criticised for learning nothing from a disastrous Euro 2024 campaign, although his radio silence for over two months since we crashed out and the spiky response when there finally was an opportunity to ask about it suggested the national team boss wasn't in the mood for reflection long before the teamsheets went in at Hampden against Poland.

The opening stages therefore surprised no-one. Scotland kept possession for lengthy spells in their own defensive third, lost the ball when they eventually tried to progress through midfield and Poland scored inside ten minutes as a result.

It was 2-0 before half-time and the argument for the same old approach just wasn't there as our most winnable fixture of this Nations League campaign on paper was proving anything but. Improvement did come swiftly after the break as a welcome second goal in Dark Blue from Billy Gilmour reduced the deficit before Scott McTominay levelled.

The former Man Utd man, now in Italy with Gilmour after the pair joined Napoli, has replaced John McGinn as Scotland's totem. He's just about the only guy scoring goals and if he doesn't, there's no-one else stepping up to fill the void.

The subs eventually came with just under 20 minutes to go and they provided a