The Scotland supporters who travelled to Ljubljana to cheer on the national side in their opening Nations League match against Slovenia on Saturday were grinning broadly when the team lines were released around an hour before kick-off.
Seeing Billy Gilmour, who was ruled out of the World Cup this summer by the cruel knee injury he suffered in the warm-up match against Curacao in May, back in the starting line-up again lifted their spirits greatly.
New manager Sebastien Pocognoli, whose side will face World Cup quarter-finalists Switzerland in their second Group B1 match at Hampden, is keen to see a big smile on the face of the Napoli player whenever he takes to the field going forward.
And the Belgian, who revealed yesterday that he was well aware of the Gilmour’s abilities long before he replaced Steve Clarke last month, believes that Scotland playing attacking football will bring out the very best in the cultured midfielder.
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“Billy had a good second half on Saturday and really enjoyed it,” he said. “If you have a player who plays one touch without even looking where he puts the ball it means that he understands the game plan.
“My comment to him was to bring this on the pitch because we don’t have a lot of players like this. I need to make sure that he finds his smile on the pitch and he was smiling after the game.
“I saw the Billy from Brighton over in Slovenia. At Napoli it is a little bit different. It is more thinking about what he can do off the ball there.
"But when he can play he is smiling. He will make mistakes and he played bad passes at the weekend. But he has to take the risks to play like that to see his qualities.”
Pocognoli continued, “I see him there (higher up the pitch). If you see the goal he scored for Napoli (against Fiorentina) last week, it shows his ability to do this. He almost scored in Slovenia with a fantastic combination with Oli [McBurnie].
“He needs to be there higher up the pitch because he can also make assists from there as well. If he is lower in the pitch, he will be less dangerous. I think that Lewis [Ferguson] is more with a defensive mindset and Billy is more offensive.
“That doesn’t mean that Billy cannot play as a No.6 in some games at home. But I see him more in the offensive area than defensive. I just want Billy to enjoy his football with a smile. If he can do that, the rest will come.
“I remember him well when he was in Brighton. I thought he was fantastic for them. When I was working for Royal Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, I already knew all about Billy. There is obviously a relationship between the two clubs. We were really close.
“I want to see this level from him again and I think we can produce a style of play to help him. If these type of players can be happy after a game, it usually means that we had a good game and played well.”
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Pocognoli introduced a 3-4-1-2 formation against Slovenia and played McBurnie with Robbie Ure and then Kieron Bowie, the Sassuolo striker who came on in the second half, in a twin strikeforce.
He will have no qualms about persevering with the same attacking approach in the meeting with World Cup quarter-finalists Switzerland at Hampden this evening despite the step up in opposition.
“We will be on the front foot,” he said. “We play at home and we have talked a lot about the principles of how we play.
“Maybe we will be lower in the pitch sometimes because of the opponent. Switzerland are a very good team. But the idea is to be on the front foot. We will see if we can execute what we want to do. We will try to be offensive, but in a smart way.
“Sometimes you also can have an ugly game and still win. Then there are other times where you actually play really well but don’t win. It’s about finding a good combination between playing well and still winning games.”
Pocognoli, who put his players through their paces at Hampden instead of Lesser Hampden yesterday, admitted that taking charge of his first match at the world-famous Mount Florida venue this evening will be a proud moment for him.
“We have a lot of new lads and I wanted them to embrace the stadium,” he said. “Also for me it was nice. In Slovenia the pitch was not good.
"It looked like a new pitch, but it was very sandy. But I said to the guys, ‘Look at the pitch today – it will be a perfect pitch to play on tomorrow and will maybe give us a better feeling on the ball’.
“Alan [Scotland assistant Irvine] has explained a lot to me. He used to play here for Queen’s Park. He told me he used to play in the stadium. It was a fantastic story. I just listened to him.
“That his value in the staff is so important. He can tell me things maybe I don’t feel right now. You can feel the history. It gives good energy. It will be a uniting moment for Glasgow tomorrow. We will have a good time.”
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Pocognoli is disappointed that his children William, 10, and Naomi, seven, will not be in attendance tonight, but he is confident they will watching on television back at home in Belgium and cheering Scotland on in their dark blue shirts.
“It was planned that my kids would come,” he said. “But they have to go to school. It is a pity, but they will be in front of the screen. Like against Slovenia, they will be wearing the shirts.
“My son loves football, he supports me wherever I am. He has come with me on the pitch with all my positions in football as coach. He just embraces the football.
"My daughter supports me. But for her football is the reason I am not there and so sometimes she does not like it. We are quite a stable family. They support me and I am very lucky.
“My son is a Belgium supporter, my wife is half from Congo. So he has many shirts. Now he has Scotland. At the World Cup it was Congo and Belgium. When Congo were out he put the Belgium shirt on again, so that was quite funny.”
