Sebastien Pocognoli’s Hampden debut as Scotland head coach ended with a 0-3 defeat by Switzerland and a familiar set of failings. Scotland conceded early, suffered another self-inflicted wound that changed the game, and drew another blank. It is now four games in a row without a goal.
Switzerland arrived with a reputation for resilience. They do not lose many games; Argentina had the devil’s own job to see them off in extra-time at the World Cup, and Germany needed an 85th-minute winner to beat them 4-3 in a friendly. Their coach, Murat Yakin, has the calm authority of a man certain his team will prevail. Once the opening goal went in, he turned around in his technical area with a half-smile. Job done, already.
The decisive moment arrived in the early minutes when Jack Hendry was sent off. Dan Ndoye was sent clear and was always winning the race; Hendry, an experienced defender, knew he was in no position to make a legitimate challenge. Reaching out to grab Ndoye was fatal. Captain Andy Robertson tried to explain the defender’s instinct afterwards, saying it is anathema to a defender to allow a striker a shot on goal, and that every fibre tells them to do something to stop it. “Football is about split-second decisions … but the red card killed us,” he said. The free-kick went in; Ricardo Rodriguez’s effort flew in on Angus Gunn’s side of the wall. Scotland were a goal down and a man down against the 14th best team in the world.
Kieron Bowie was substituted in the wake of the red card, an innocent victim of a dreadful error. Scotland fought hard. John McGinn bought several fouls, Oli McBurnie battled in what McGinn called a “thankless task”, and there were fleeting moments when the crowd was energised. But Switzerland dealt with Scotland’s enthusiasm, waited, and landed the knockout blows. A second goal did not flatter them; nor did a third. Once Scotland were down to 10 men inside 11 minutes, the night was effectively over.
Maybe it would have finished the same way at 11 against 11, but Scotland never got the chance to find out. Pocognoli had said everyone in the squad was “so excited to start the first page of the book at home”, but the book turned into a horror story. There were a few plus marks: Luis Binks defended well on his debut, and Stephen Welsh came on after the red card and performed admirably again. Otherwise the 90 minutes told Scotland little.
The next chapter comes in Skopje on Saturday against North Macedonia. It is perhaps too soon to call it a must-win in Pocognoli’s reign, but for feel-good purposes it really is. North Macedonia are not Switzerland, who beat them 3-0 last weekend, and they are not even at Slovenia’s level, having lost 2-0 to them on Tuesday. They are winless in 10 games, have scored two goals in that time and have shipped four against Turkey, four against Denmark and seven against Wales. Scotland’s goal drought needs to end, and their run without a win needs an abrupt conclusion.
Pocognoli’s line-up and formation will be debated heavily. Bowie was robbed of his evening and will surely be given a proper chance in Skopje; the McBurnie-Bowie combination deserves an opportunity after being broken up so prematurely. Ben Gannon-Doak might also come into the thinking. He is a tough customer to fit into the system, but a speedster worth the effort, and the threat that made him a risk against the accomplished Swiss does not exist against North Macedonia. Not scoring against Slovenia was annoying; not scoring against Switzerland, in the circumstances, was understandable; not scoring and winning in Skopje would be a horrible outcome.
Time to cut loose, or what constitutes cutting loose for a team that has lost its ability to score. The Scott McTominay overhead kick, the Kieran Tierney wonder goal and the Kenny McLean shot from the other end of the world feel like a long time ago. Scotland would settle for an ugly deflection, a madcap own goal, a ricochet off McGinn or the back of McBurnie’s head. Anything for a goal and a win.