Slot will love what he saw from young Liverpool player who made Croatia sweat

Ben Doak played a key part in Scotland’s initially strong start against Croatia during the international break.

It’s been a somewhat mixed bag of showings from Liverpool’s international stars. Virgil van Dijk inevitably faced some heavy criticism after picking up a red card against Hungary.

Cody Gakpo was on hand to salvage a point for the Netherlands with his assist for Denzel Dumfries’ 83rd-minute equaliser. Ryan Gravenberch took his strong form at club level to the Nations League, making his presence felt by Dominik Szoboszlai in another impressive showing.

The Merseysiders are set to take on Chelsea in their opening Premier League clash after the internationals.

Ben Doak helped create Scotland opener v Croatia

Ben Doak helped get Scotland off to a great start with a great run down the right flank before supplying a testing low cross in the 18-yard box.

Ben Doak enjoying an exciting opening 30 on his first start for Scotland. Big part in Scotland’s goal and giving Croatia’s defence all sorts of problems.

— Lewis Bower (@LewisBower2021) October 12, 2024

Unfortunately for Steve Clark’s men, goals from Andrej Kramaric and Igor Matanovic meant the Tartan Army went home with nothing to show for their efforts.

Our 18-year-old pocket rocket, however, can hold his head high after some impressive moments of action in the UEFA Nations League.

Doak secured a Sofascore rating of 6.5/10 after completing 83% of his passes (15/18), 2/3 dribbles and winning 4/9 ground duels contested.

Plenty to work on for the teenager, but there were signs of promise that shouldn’t go unnoticed.

You can catch the clip below, courtesy of Viaplay (via Everything Scotland):

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Excellent play from Ben Doak who has been bright so far!

Bad defending from Croatia but was Ryan Christie on hand to tuck it home!pic.twitter.com/T2qo8fUC3N

— Everything Scotland (@AboutScotlandd) October 12, 2024

How is Ben Doak’s loan at Middlesbrough going?

The Scotland international has just one goal to his name in five Championship appearances for Middlesbrough in 2024/25 – this one coming in his first start of the campaign in a 2-0 win over Stoke City.

A Sofascore rating of 8/10 certainly indicates this was the young attacker’s most impressive outing with the Boro. Ben Doak racked up a total xG of 0.89 and supplied four key passes beyond his goal.

There have been some mixed displays otherwise, though it’s far too early to make a definitive judgement about his loan spell in North Yorkshire.

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