West Ham winger Robert Snodgrass has spoken about what it means to be back in the Scotland side.
He hasn’t featured since a 4-0 defeat to Belgium last October. It was a case of deja vu for the Hammers wideman recently though, as he made his first appearance since that in Scotland’s 4-0 Belgian drubbing.
Snodgrass insists that despite the result, a national team call-up still means ‘A hell of a lot’ to him.
He told the Scotland Twitter account: “It means a hell of a lot. The last time I came on was against the Belgians as well and I think we were 3-0 down at the time.
“It gets harder as you get older. I’m just trying to keep going and working as hard as I possibly can, trying to help the young lads round about me.
“I’m trying to encourage the manager’s ideas and trying to get better because we want to make this nation proud of us.”
West Ham star Snodgrass’ Scotland career is on the home stretch
With West Ham, Snodgrass has had to overcome problems to get into the first-team. He struggled to break into the senior side and spent time out on loan at Aston Villa to help find his form.
Since then he has been a regular for the Hammers, making 57 appearances in total for the London side. He is now making inroads back into the Scotland setup.
For whatever reason, the 32-year-old hasn’t featured in almost a year. He’s a useful player too, as he is arguably Scotland’s best technical player.
As he notes though, time is ticking on his international career. Almost a year out has robbed him of a few appearances, and with a demanding Premier League schedule to keep up with, playing extra matches for Scotland will eventually take its toll.
Snodgrass is a brilliant player to watch for Scotland fans when he’s up to the task. He is also very committed to his country, always looking like he has a point to prove when he plays.
It’ll be a shame to see him eventually retire from the international scene in a couple of years or so.