Russell Martin is confident Scotland will be ready for the World Cup qualifiers

Scotland defender Russell Martin believes friendly matches against Italy and France will help Gordon Strachan's men prepare for the World Cup campaign.

Strachan will take his squad to Metz for a game against Euro 2016 hosts France on Saturday, having lost 1-0 to Italy in Malta last weekend.

Scotland return to Malta in September to start their qualifying campaign and will face Group B opponents Lithuania, Slovakia and England before the end of the year while a visit from Slovenia awaits next March.

And the Norwich centre-back reckons the players will be ready for the challenge when the competitive action begins.

"This will get us ready physically and mentally," Martin said.

"We learnt a lot on Sunday night about a different formation. And especially this time of year, you don't want to be coming away and playing friendlies that don't have any meaning.

"I know we've not qualified but these teams are gearing up for the European Championship and we are playing against top teams, so we have to be up and at it or else we are going to be on the receiving end of some wrong results.

"These are the teams you want to be testing yourselves against because, once the qualifiers come around, we are going to be playing against teams of this calibre, and we need to make sure we have got a chance of qualifying."

Scotland only managed one shot against Italy, when Matt Ritchie's effort flew wide of the target, and the team will have to improve against France.

Martin reckons Scotland will have more opportunities to impress in attack as France are place emphasis on attack.

"It will be a step up in terms of intensity and tempo because they are obviously the home nation," Martin said.

"It's going to be a great atmosphere, they have sold it out, and it will be a little taster of what the atmosphere is going to be like at the Euros. So we need to be at it from the start, it's as simple as that and we know that.

"It's a different system. France have probably got a little bit more flair in attack, but probably not as good defensively as the Italians.

"So it's a different test but it's against a formation we have played against many times so we have to go there and be prepared, and we need to try and impose our own game a little bit more than we did on Sunday night, in terms of getting on the ball, and movement, and keeping the ball a bit better and hopefully getting a few chances ourselves. So we will go there and we'll have a go.

"It will be an extremely tough game and we need to take into account who we are playing against, but hopefully on Saturday we put on a better show with the ball and keep that spirit and doggedness without it."