Sebastien Pocognoli has expressed hope his Scotland players will learn important lessons from their Nations League defeat to Switzerland at Hampden last night - and has urged them to put the experience into their DNA.
Pocognoli lost his first home game as manager of the national team 3-0 after centre-half Jack Hendry was sent off early on for a foul on Dan Ndoye against the World Cup quarter-finalists.
However, the Belgian, whose team will now take on North Macedonia in Skopje on Saturday night, is hopeful that Andy Robertson and his team mates will ultimately benefit from the runout.
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“It was a frustrating night,” he said as he looked back on the reverse to Murat Yakin’s side. “I don’t have a lot to say about the game. We got a red card and then they finish direct from the free kick so it was probably the worst situation we could have.
“I wanted to see if the team reacted well or not with 10 men and they did their best. They had a great attitude and stuck together. I watched the attitude of the players. I wanted to see if anyone dropped and that did not happen.
“I have nothing bad to say about the team. They did their best. They put in a lot of effort, they communicated, fought and tried to close the passing down. They were resilient in that moment and hopefully it can help us to be stronger.
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“The red card of Jack is all of our red card. We stay together. We put this moment in our DNA and hopefully it can be helpful for the future.”
Pocognoli added, “It was very frustrating. I had a warm welcome and that made me a little bit sad because we wanted to give something back and we could not.
“It is important to have a result now to give a boost to the staff, not only for me but all the people who work so hard and so well. Also for the players. We need a good performance in Macedonia and the result is important.”
