Scotland coach Sébastien Pocognoli is already looking towards the next international window as he tries to work out how Scott McTominay fits into his team. The Napoli midfielder has been absent from Scotland’s opening Nations League games after undergoing surgery for a minor heart issue, and he is expected to return to the Scotland scene in November.
McTominay’s absence is understandable, but Saturday’s scoreless draw in Slovenia raised the question of where he will play when he returns. Pocognoli was noncommittal. “He can play in many positions,” he said. “He is a top player so he can read the game. We will see.” The answer is not immediately obvious.
In Ljubljana, Pocognoli deployed Billy Gilmour and Lewis Ferguson as central midfielders, with John McGinn ahead of them to support a two-man strike force. Gilmour was heavily influential during Scotland’s impressive second half. Ferguson’s combative and defensive skills are valuable, while McGinn, like McTominay, is a mainstay of the team. It is therefore legitimate to ask how Pocognoli handles McTominay.
Pocognoli said: “For now we just need to put the structure in place. I hope Scott watched the game and thought ‘OK, I see myself in that shape in the second half’, and that with good discipline he can enjoy it. I hope he can look and think: ‘Yeah, I want to play.’” He also noted that Andy Robertson was really positive after the game and said he really enjoyed it, adding that it is really good to hear that from top players.
Scotland improved markedly after half-time messaging from Pocognoli, in his maiden match as the country’s manager, reflecting well on the 39-year-old Belgian. Pocognoli seems determined to emphasise that he is not tactically inflexible, despite Scotland’s shape being typical of what he deployed at Union Saint-Gilloise and Monaco.
He also insisted there will be consistent involvement for Ben Gannon-Doak, a winger who does not automatically seem to fit into a 3-4-1-2 setup. Gannon-Doak, whose game time has been restricted at Bournemouth, appeared as a second-half substitute in Slovenia. “It will not be difficult to find a place for him,” Pocognoli said. “It is a process. At his club he also needs to settle. He is young and he needs to play more for his club. He is a top, top kid first of all and a top player and a gamechanger and we don’t have a lot of those. That is why Josh McPake is also with us because I want more of that. Maybe in the future if those two make the step we can be open to exploring many shapes.”
Pocognoli explained that starting Gannon-Doak in the wide position in the shape used in Slovenia would be risky because of transitions. “I think in that wide position in the shape we had in Slovenia it is risky to start him, because we have to know that sometimes you can be beaten in transition. The pattern on the ball can sometimes be bad and then it is not the game for Ben. But when we have good control on the pitch, like in the second half, that becomes his game.”
A sterner test awaits Scotland on Tuesday. Switzerland may be without Granit Xhaka, but they still swatted aside North Macedonia 3-0 on Saturday evening. Pocognoli is in the tricky position of learning about his squad while facing credible opposition. He was aware of the frustrations of the Scotland support during the first half in Slovenia, with those fans roused by the creation of numerous second-half chances.
“As long as we continue to create chances, you bring the fans alive,” Pocognoli said. “If we can produce the second-half performance at home I think it will be OK. But we cannot play 90 minutes like this. When we are resilient like we were in defending the box in the first half that is something we have to enjoy because it is not easy to defend like they did. I think the crowd was positive at the end because we produced something that they wanted to see. At least we attacked and they did not have the feeling that they travelled for nothing.”
Oli McBurnie is likely to retain his place in attack despite his run without scoring in Scotland colours stretching to 17 games. Pocognoli has been delighted with the application and attitude of McBurnie, who had been shunned by the previous manager, Steve Clarke. Scotland need potency; they have found the net only once in four games. “He played a good game,” Pocognoli said of McBurnie. “In the first half when it was difficult … but in that moment you give up or you stick together to fight for the team. Oli never gave up. He showed that he is proud and hungry to be here.”