After seven years under Steve Clarke, no matter the success he brought as Scotland manager, there is understandably excitement among the Tartan Army about this new era for the national side under Sebastien Pocognoli. A good gauge of whether that is justified or not though is the way that the players talk about their new manager and his methods.
Granted, given their desire to pull on the Scotland jersey, they are hardly going to fillet their boss in public, but there seems to be a real excitement among the squad too, and Aaron Hickey is among those who have certainly been enthused by what they have seen so far from the Belgian.
“The gaffer has been good,” Hickey
“The training has been going well, and the boys have been enjoying it.
“We have to be positive. But we also have to have a bit of excitement too. Obviously, it’s a change, but we have to look forward.
“We have a new Scotland manager and a few new members of staff and faces but as players we need to take that in our stride and look ahead. We all want to impress and put performances in.”
The Scotland players struggled to get to grips with Pocognoli’s preferred 3-4-1-2 formation at first in Ljubljana, but after a couple of tweaks, it started to look like a system that can work for them.
There are of course still questions over how Pocognoli can fit Ben Gannon-Doak into his team from the start, particularly after another exciting contribution from the bench on Saturday from the Bournemouth winger, but Hickey is more certain about his place within it.
“I feel the system suits me,” he said.
“I like to get forward. In the second half against Slovenia, I thought I did well. I enjoyed getting forward into goalscoring opportunities. I nearly got a couple of goals. “I had a header and another chance in the first half when I had a shot which was blocked. I should probably have got it away quicker.
“It was good in the second half especially. The first half was quite tough, but I felt we grew into the game and did well. The gaffer made a few tweaks at half time, and we adjusted to things when we went back out. It was a lot more confident from then on.
“Right from the start of the second half we were on top of them, winning second balls, and we dominated.
“There’s a frustration there that we didn’t win the game because it felt like we should have got all three points. That gives us a bit of disappointment. But we’re satisfied with how we played in the second half, so we’ll take that.
“We felt ready for the game. The gaffer has worked hard at trying to get it across to the players how he wants us to play. That obviously takes a bit of time. But I felt all the boys did well to adjust to that.”
Another surefire gauge of how things have gone is the reaction of the travelling Tartan Army, and though they were a little quiet as the first half in Slovenia unfolded, their rapturous reception for their team and their manager after the game spoke volumes about Scotland’s improvement.
“We had great support from the fans,” Hickey said.
“Wherever we go, the Tartan Army give us great support, and they showed that at the end of the game.
“They looked happy with the second half performance, and we now aim to take that into the next game against Switzerland on Tuesday.
“I feel they’ll be a step up in opposition. But we’ll also have a few more days to work on things so hopefully we can build on the momentum.”
