Sebastien Pocognoli insists Scotland can take positives from Slovenia draw after tactical half-time switch
New era for the national team begins with a goalless draw in Ljubljana
Sebastien Pocognoli admits Scotland produced “two games in the same game” as his reign commenced with a goalless draw against Slovenia in Ljubljana.
The Belgian saw his side struggle to impose themselves during a disjointed opening 45 minutes with debutant Robbie Ure hitting the post with the only shot on target. But he was encouraged by the response after the interval as Scotland took control and created several opportunities to win the opening Nations League Group B1 encounter.
Pocognoli believes both halves offered valuable lessons as he begins the task of implementing his style with the national team. He acknowledged their opponents shape in the first-half had caused his players’ problems, but changes made during the break helped shift the momentum in their favour.
“I think we had two games in the same game, but you can analyse in a positive way both of them,” he stated. “First half, was not what we expected in terms of structure, we were in between for the press. We were a little bit surprised about the formation of Slovenia, but at half-time we fixed this and you can see that the second half was much better.”
Positives for Pocognoli on first outing
Scotland looked more composed after the restart, moving the ball with greater purpose and creating a number of openings thanks largely to the influential Billy Gilmour. On his return to international football after a five-year absence, Oli McBurnie was denied by goalkeeper Jan Oblak when clean through, while Gilmour also went close but were unable to find the finish required to secure maximum points.
Pocognoli was keen to stress, however, that a challenging first half should not simply be dismissed as a negative.
“We produced what we wanted to show every minute, but first half we learned to stick together, to defend the box, to be resilient and to be patient to change the game,” he declared.
“We were also challenging about set-pieces, after five minutes we had many set-pieces to defend in. That's the positive way to look at the first half, it was not always positive, but in the second half we had a game on the ball against a low block.”
Scotland’s dominance was reflected in their ability to find space around the Slovenian box, with ex-Hearts defender Aaron Hickey heading narrowly off target and former Hibs striker Kieron Bowie passing up three late chances in quick succession, one of which was a gilt-edged miss from the edge of the box with the goal at his mercy.
“We should have scored to be honest,” Pocognoli admitted. “The counter-press was good, the high [line] of the defence was good, just because the position of the players was better.”
The result means Pocognoli begins his Scotland tenure with a point rather than the victory he would have craved. The challenge now is to carry that momentum into Tuesday’s meeting with group favourites Switzerland at Hampden, where the Scots will look to turn their markedly improved second half performance into a first success under their new head coach.
What Scotland need to improve
Finishing remains the obvious issue. Scotland's biggest problem wasn't necessarily creating opportunities; it was converting them. They also need to find solutions earlier in games. Slovenia's first-half structure prevented the visitors from playing through them, and it took until after half-time for Scotland to really impose themselves.