Sebastien Pocognoli has urged his Scotland players to stay calm and focus fully on executing their new game plan in the wake of the painful Nations League defeat to Switzerland – and their worst run of goalscoring form in 55 years.
Pocognoli’s men suffered a 3-0 loss at the hands of the World Cup quarter-finalists in their second Group B1 match to 3-0 at Hampden on Tuesday night after having centre-half Jack Hendry sent off in the 11th minute.
It is, following the reverses they suffered against Morocco and Brazil at the World Cup in June and the goalless draw against Slovenia in Ljubljana last Saturday, the first time the national team have gone four fixtures without scoring since way back in 1971.
Not since Scotland were beaten by Belgium and Portugal in Euro ’72 qualifying and drew with Wales and lost to Northern Ireland in the British Home Championship have they failed to find the target in so many consecutive outings.
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If they go 25 minutes without netting against North Macedonia in Tose Proeski Arena in Skopje this Saturday it will be their worst barren run in their entire 154-year history.
However, Pocognoli stressed he was pleased with the “brave” performance of Oliver McBurnie, who played up front by himself after Al-Ettifaq defender Hendry was ordered off, against Switzerland despite the Hull City striker once again failing to find the target.
He acknowledged that a win this weekend is needed in the wake of the disappointing midweek result – but the Belgian has no intention of panicking and abandoning either his 3-5-2 formation or his tactics despite his men slipping to third in the table.
Asked about going four games without a goal, he said, “I try to take a step back from this because it is building from the past. We created a lot of chances against Slovenia and I saw some good things.
“Against Switzerland we didn’t have that one good moment. I hope it can give a taste to the strikers to end this, but it is not an objective to fight against this stat. We have to take some distance from it.
“I don’t see why I would be affected. We had a good feeling after Slovenia, we had a good feeling at the start of the Switzerland game. We just need to stay calm and not overthink things, especially the players. We have to go to Macedonia and start from zero and try to do what we did against Switzerland.
“I think we need to win if we want to step up the rankings. It is a tough place to go, but if we can combine performance and result I will be happy. But we need a good result for the staff, who have been working hard, and also for the players, who have had a top class attitude and work ethic since day one.
“It was really easy for me after the game. I just said, ‘Guys, everybody was really excited to come and watch something. It didn’t happen. Let’s try to go again and have a good game for 90 minutes without any rollercoaster situation’. I told them they had the right attitude.
“Regarding Jack’s red card? It is our red card and we have to deal with it collectively. It is part of the process unfortunately. It is one moment that I hope can make us stronger in future. I think the fans were realistic about what happened on the pitch. Everybody felt the disappointment.
“The good thing is we have a game on Saturday and next week we can go to Hampden again (against Slovenia on Tuesday night). Hopefully we will have a better feeling than we did last night.”
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Getting a result against rivals who are in 14th place in the FIFA World Rankings became a tall order after Hendry left the field – but Pocognoli was pleased with how Andy Robertson and his Scotland team mates responded to the setback.
“It is a difficult game to analyse,” he said. “The only thing I could analyse was how the players dealt with the situation, how brave they were, whether they collapsed or not.
“Actually, they did what they needed to do in that situation, which was to work together, defend the box as well as possible and try to do something in transition. It was difficult. But in that situation they did well. Honestly, I don’t have anything negative to say. We started on the front foot and the red card was disappointing.
“You need all the leaders to react what happened on the pitch realistically. We need to balance emotions when the disappointment is high. That could maybe lead to a bad feeling going to Macedonia, but that is not the case. We need the leaders to maintain the feeling."
Pocognoli replaced former Hibernian striker Kieron Bowie, who was making his first start for his country, with centre-half Stephen Welsh after Hendry went off and stressed the Sassuolo player accepted his decision.
“He understood it,” he said. “He was excited to start, but he knows it was not a punishment. We had to consolidate the defence because we were playing a good team. We could maybe have played 4-4-1, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to do that. The lads did well and Kieron understood.
“Kieron was good from the first minute, was really focused on the press and had some good moments on the ball also. We will see if he plays on Saturday. I think we also need to secure a good result. Some players will be excited to show what they can do with 11 men.
“Oli did well against Switzerland. But he was low on the pitch in defence a lot. He had to cover a lot of work for the midfielders. It was the idea to use him in that context and he did great.
“But sometimes he was too brave for the press because he was really pressing on both sides. The idea in the second half was to just orientate on one side and put some attention on [Manuel] Akanji. But he fought against two beasts and was brave. I think the crowd give him good applause for that. He wanted to do his best for them.”
Angus Gunn, the San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper who won his 27th cap on Tuesday night, has been criticised for his display against Switzerland and many members of the Tartan Army have called for him to be replaced by Scott Bain, Liam Kelly or Jon McCracken against North Macedonia.
Asked about Gunn’s performance, Pocognoli said, “We have to analyse the free kick. Yeah, it is part of the game. We got a red card and conceded at a free kick. It was a double punishment really. I would rather concede the penalty and continue with 11 men and show what we have prepared for. That frustrated me a little bit.”
