Robert Lewandowski has been involved in eight goals in his last nine starts for Poland (5 goals, 3 assists) and netted twice in his last appearance against Scotland in October 2015 at Hampden.

Andy Robertson could win his 75th cap, becoming just the seventh player to achieve that alongside Kenny Dalglish, Alex McLeish, Jim Leighton, Paul McStay, Darren Fletcher and Craig Gordon.

“[It is] evolution, not revolution. This time we have a significant number of injuries, I’ve had to dip down to the under-21s squad, they also have important fixtures coming up but that brings freshness.

“Respect to the core group, but within that core group you have to add a little bit more and hopefully that makes us better. It won’t happen overnight. This is a chance to evolve the group so that we’re in shape for the World Cup qualifiers.”

Poland have only won four of their 16 Nations League matches (drawn four, lost eight), with both wins against Bosnia (2020) and two over Wales (2022).

Having won 15 out of 18 competitive games between September 2021 and September 2023 (drawn one, lost two), Scotland are now winless in six (drawn three, lost three).

They last endured a longer run between October 2011 and March 2013 (seven).

Scotland have only won one of their last 12 matches (drawn four, lost seven) – a 2-0 friendly victory over Gibraltar who were ranked 203 in the world.

They have lost six of their last seven against teams ranked above them.

Five of the last six meetings between these teams have ended as draws, including the most recent game in March 2022, a 1-1 draw in a friendly.

Scotland have never beaten Poland in a competitive game in four attempts (three draws, one defeat), despite going ahead in each of the last three.

There was huge excitement among the Scottish support ahead of Euro 2024 in Germany where tens of thousands turned up in expectation, but it all fell flat when Steve Clarke’s men could only muster one point from three group games before returning home.

Ahead of the Nations League Group A game against Poland at Hampden Park on Thursday, the Scotland skipper acknowledged the disappointment and is looking to make up with the fans.

Andy Robertson says fresh faces like Ryan Gauld and Ben Doak can help Scotland find a way to compete against elite nations more regularly.

“We know that’s what we need to improve – that’s the next step for us,” Robertson said, “That’s us been to two tournaments now and only got two draws. We’ve not progressed the way we would have liked.

“We need to look at that. And in the build up when we played the stronger nations like England and France we didn’t show how good we can be.

“But also not that far in the past we beat the European champions here at Hampden, we also beat a really good Denmark team. We competed against Spain away as well.

“We need to get more consistent at doing it. We’ve done it previously but not all the time. That’s what we need to get better at, especially at tournaments.”

“The summer was a low for all of us,” said the Scotland captain when asked about Euro 2024, “But we have to move on from it. We have to be positive, otherwise it’s pointless being here. We have to believe.

“Okay, we might have some doubters again within our country. Our country was right behind us in the summer.

“We get they’re disappointed and now it’s up to us to drag them along with us again. It’s up to us to show on the pitch we’re willing to fight, win games, and put in the hard yards.

“If we do that, we know our fans will come with us as well.”

Steve Clarke is expecting a testing encounter against Poland this evening. The Scotland boss wrote in the matchday programme:

“We know that Poland will provide a stern test. They too will be disappointed with their summer and will want to use tonight to prove a point. It is up to us not to let them do so by getting our Nations League campaign off to a winning start.”