Steve Clarke has a Scotland problem - I reckon he'll turn one way to fix it

Crucially, however, 81 of them belong to the same player - Craig Gordon. Also relevant are the facts the Hearts ‘keeper turns 43 on Hogmanay and hasn’t played a competitive game of football since last season.

Liam Kelly is considerably younger and has at least played this season – once, for Rangers against Alloa Athletic in August. Scott Bain, meanwhile, is returning to the Scotland squad after a six-year absence, most of which was spent warming the bench at Celtic. He is at least now playing regularly in the Scottish top flight for Falkirk.

When Clarke bid farewell to his players after the last month’s successful – in terms of points accumulated – double header, he was advised to hand out large balls of cotton wool for the players to wrap themselves in, not that this seemed necessary for everyone.

One advantage of having several players not playing regularly for their club is that there’s less chance of them being injured. In theory, at least.

Clarke doesn’t tend to give too much away. However, if you had pinned him down after the wins over Greece and Belarus that put Scotland in such a good position to qualify for next summer's finals and forced him to identify the player he could least afford to lose before the next international window, he’d surely have opted for Angus Gunn.

Andy Robertson, although skipper, is at least disposable to the extent that there’s a ready-made, if slightly under-cooked, replacement in Kieran Tierney standing by. Even Scott McTominay, as much as he is a Tartan Amy talisman and scored last time out against Belarus, has not hit the heights in this campaign and might be replaceable.

The importance of Gunn cannot be overplayed

Gunn not so much. The ‘keeper might not have been playing any club football at Nottingham Forest, but he was proving adept at coming in from the cold and excelling for Scotland. One save towards the end against Greece last month, with Scotland only leading 2-1 at the time, was described as world class. He also did as much as anyone to secure a point in the opening game against Denmark.

As far as Tartan Army members were concerned, it was perhaps helpful he wasn’t in the mix to play at Forest. Indeed, he’d slipped down as far as No. 3 following the arrival of Brazilian ‘keeper John Victor. Out of harm’s way.

So you can imagine Clarke’s reaction when news came through last week that Gunn had nevertheless managed to “open up his knee ligaments”, as rather gruesomely depicted by manager Sean Dyche, during training. The Scotland manager must have banged his head off his desk. Why always me?

It might account for Clarke’s demeanour at Hampden as he announced his latest and potentially penultimate Scotland squad. Taciturn, slightly guarded, nothing more than the usual really, but there was definitely some evidence of tension, understandably so given the context. It is reaching crunch time as far as Scotland’s hopes of ending their decades-long World Cup exile are concerned.

Clarke must decide whether to go into these next two games, one of which could be a veritable cup final against Denmark, with a ‘keeper in his 40s who hasn’t played since a 2-1 win over Ross County for Hearts in May. Or else does he place faith in Bain, who has played two competitive fixtures for Scotland, if over six years ago. Kelly, who has only appeared for one half of a friendly against France to date, is the other alternative.

Clarke might have cast around further but these are the options he has restricted himself to choosing between. Jon McCracken, named in one squad last season, is playing every week for Dundee but lost four goals against Aberdeen recently and four again against Hearts on Saturday, with Gordon looking on from the bench.

There’s always Cieran Slicker as well. According to reports, the now 23-year-old is acquitting himself well on loan at Barnet from Ipswich Town following that horror Scotland debut against Iceland in June. Clarke admitted it was unfair to push someone so inexperienced into the fray but there was no other choice when the unfortunate Gunn rolled his ankle and with Robby McCrorie having already injured himself in the warm-up.

McCrorie was another candidate. However, he is currently on loan at Danish side Esbjerg fB from Kilmarnock and was last seen on social media downing a pint handed to him by supporters straight after the final whistle of a game. Perhaps not the kind of safe hands Clarke is looking for.

Where does Clarke turn to next?

As for Slicker, he recently saved two penalties v Crewe Alexandra but has been missing recently through suspension after being sent off after the final whistle against Tranmere last month. In any case, it’s probably still too soon to consider putting him back in such a fierce spotlight.

So who does Clarke turn to next Saturday night in Piraeus? Although Greece are now out of qualifying contention, they will be hellbent on revenge. They had 15 shots when losing 3-1 at Hampden last month and 24 when they were ambushed 1-0 by Clarke’s side earlier this year in a Nations League play-off. It’s guaranteed to be a busy night for whoever plays.

“It'll definitely be Craig, Liam or Scott that starts,” said Clarke in what was the most predictable line of the day. He said he would lean heavily on Chris Woods, the goalkeeper coach who it’s almost at the stage of registering as a player again although there might be some eligibility issues.

Gordon would be this writer’s guess - and choice - to wear the No. 1 shirt. As Clarke pointed out, “he’s never let Scotland down”.

What a story that would be if the veteran can deliver his country to a World Cup. The way things are going, he’d likely play at it too if he can keep himself fit.