Sébastien Pocognoli hopes a “smiling” Billy Gilmour will be central to Scotland’s attempts to improve following a bruising World Cup campaign, with the new manager making clear the Napoli midfielder must be given the freedom to take risks.
Pocognoli’s first match in charge ended in a goalless draw away to Slovenia in the Nations League, a game in which Gilmour excelled after half-time. The midfielder had missed the World Cup through injury, a tournament in which Scotland exited at the group stage.
Speaking before his Hampden Park bow against Switzerland on Tuesday evening, Pocognoli pointed to Gilmour’s one-touch quality as evidence that he understands the game plan. “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,” he said.
The manager went further, arguing that players of Gilmour’s type are scarce and that his job is to keep him enjoying his football. “We don’t have a lot of players like this. Even Switzerland don’t. 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 in Slovenia,” Pocognoli said. “At Napoli it is a little bit different, it is more thinking about off the ball. But when he can play he is smiling. He will make mistakes, he played bad passes against Slovenia. But he has to take the risks to play like that to see his qualities.”
Pocognoli added that he remembers Gilmour well from his time at Brighton, where he thought the midfielder was fantastic, and that simply enjoying the game is the foundation for the rest: “I just want Billy to enjoy his football with a smile. If he can do that, the rest will come.”
Scotland trained at Hampden on Monday rather than at their standard base next door, with Pocognoli keen to familiarise new members of his squad with the venue. “It does not look old but you can feel the history,” he said.
Pocognoli has also warned players who are not featuring regularly for their clubs that winning a place in his Scotland squads will become increasingly difficult. Ben Gannon-Doak, Ryan Christie and Aaron Hickey are among key members of his group who have had restricted domestic minutes this season. The Belgian is comfortable with that situation for now, but indicated it is likely to change by the time Euro 2028 qualifying begins next year.
“I think Ben will get the games because Bournemouth have the Europa League,” Pocognoli said. “He will play, he will get time. Billy has played in recent weeks since the Champions League has started. So the teams will start to rotate.” His concern is further ahead: “What concerns me is when March comes. If the players aren’t playing a lot then we will struggle with the physical aspects of the game. The demands on the effort are massive. Right now it is OK because it is after pre-season. In November we will see. But we need to have players who have played.”