Sometimes you just need a wee bit time away from football to freshen things up.

I think you're always fighting a losing battle when you're Scottish and I don't think that's right. I think the way that people look at Scottish football is wrong, but at the same time, we have to start proving it on the park and start showing it again.

If someone is going to spend a whole game marking you, then there may be games when I will have to sacrifice myself for the team and take them away and create space for a team-mate.

You need to be brave to able to stand up to tough atmospheres and against top players.

Every young kid growing up playing football dreams of playing in those big famous stadiums.

There's something special about big midweek games at Easter Road, under the lights, that makes us have that little bit extra about us.

I think people maybe had a perception of me that I was just a hard working player, just a runner. Don't get me wrong, I think I am that but I've got a lot more to my game than that.

We can take these things for granted, when we have everything on a plate.

There's always going to be that question going up a division. Can you do it? Are you only good against the players in a lower division?

I've worked under a lot of managers, whether it's the national team or at St Mirren and everyone has their moments. I think it is important, you can't just let things pass if they are not good enough.

No matter where it is or who it's against, I will always be available for Scotland as long as I am fit.

You learn more from defeats and it makes you hungry to go and improve the next time. That's the way I have dealt with things during my whole career.

You want to be challenging for titles and in semi-finals and finals. Everyone is excited by that.

Well I'm still a massive Celtic supporter. And I always will be. That will never leave you.

In Scotland you can enter a comfort zone. I felt I had already developed a reputation there and felt it was important to prove I can play elsewhere.

If you've not got the doubts to go and prove people wrong, that's when you get into that comfort zone and stop progressing.

I know I have been compared with Broony and he is a player I've looked up to massively. When I first went into the Scotland squad he took me under his wing.

You will always have people to prove wrong. I always have done and I always will. I use that to spur me on and stay hungry and that's the big aim.

I think it's really hard to replace what Scott Brown brought to Scotland. He was one of a kind and there aren't too many players like Broony. But for me, the more you try and replicate him, the more difficult it becomes.

We don't want to have to rely on last-minute goals every time!

People do like to talk us down, it's a Scottish thing. We are pessimistic, we look for the negatives all the time.

Sometimes a manager will assess the other team through the warm-up and try to get an inkling as to what way they are going to be playing.

All you want to do is first and foremost a job for the team but if you can entertain the people in the stands, and make then enjoy their day, then it helps.

Going to places like Tynecastle, where you're so close to the crowd, you get reminded how ugly you are and stuff like that!