Sebastien Pocognoli last night claimed Scotland were still on track under his watch despite going down meekly at home to Slovenia.
Leading through a Ryan Christie strike at half-time, the Belgian’s side wilted in the second period and conceded soft goals to Aljosa Matko and Danijel Sturm.
Although he’s only taken charge of four matches after being appointed as Steve Clarke’s successor, Pocognoli only has four points to show for his efforts in the Nations League.
But while he admitted that the display fell short of expectations, he insists he’ll get it right in the long run.
‘The assessment is trying to be objective about the game,’ he said. ‘I think we played not the game that we wanted to deliver. I think we were not at the level that we expected to be on the ball, but also off the ball.
‘We have a disappointment feeling, 100 per cent. On the other side, we look back to what we delivered to the camp, which can give some strong foundation for the future. But today we just have to analyse what the next camp can or has to improve.
Sebastien Pocognoli and skipper Andy Robertson exchange views on the touchline
‘Today I don’t think we deserve to get more than what we got. Slovenia played a good game and we were not at the level.’
Asked if he felt the four-game camp had still been a success, Pocognoli added: ‘I think they are on track.
‘The players delivered a great camp. Maybe on the ranking aspect, especially with the game today, we are disappointed. But the job that we delivered with the staff, with the players and some moments during the four games was positive.
‘But today was not what we expected. We have the objective that we need to improve on many things. Like I said yesterday, the Macedonia game was good. But today we didn’t show enough.
‘On the ball we were not clever enough. We were far from strong enough in the duels. It’s a process about being brave, trying to defend forward and we were not compact in our defensive shape.
‘The reality is each game teaches us some information. We will try to go through the process we want and learn from this one and do better in the next one.’
Scotland captain Andy Robertson – who was presented with a ceremonial shirt pre-match by his former Scotland managers Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and Steve Clarke, along with Pocognoli – was furious with his side’s display, insisting they were outfought by the Slovenians.
Aljosa Matko celebrates his goal which drew Slovenia level and silenced Hampden
‘Not good enough,’ said the Tottenham defender. ‘The whole team on the pitch, I don’t think it was a good performance at all.
‘We didn’t do the good things we did on Saturday, I don’t know what that’s down to. They caused us a lot of problems and we have to find the reasons why.
‘I don’t care about myself too much with personal achievements. It was amazing that my three ex-managers came — I can’t thank them enough. It was a really nice touch from everyone at the SFA to organise that for me.
‘That moment will never be taken away from me but, at the end of the day, when the whistle goes, I don’t care if it’s my first cap or my 101st cap.
‘We wanted to kick on from Saturday because we had a really positive feeling about what we were doing and where we were going. We didn’t do that.
‘It’s been a long camp, I don’t know if it was down to tiredness, but as far as I’m concerned Slovenia have played the same amount of games as us. They looked a lot fresher, a lot more hungry.
‘As Scotland, we might lack quality or make mistakes, but I don’t think people accept being outfought. I think that’s what happened tonight.’
Andy Robertson was presented with a souvenir Scotland shirt by his former national managers
With five goals lost in two home matches, Pocognoli’s front-foot style has not yet paid dividends.
The result – a second home defeat for the Belgian – leaves Scotland three points behind Slovenia with matches against North Macedonia and Switzerland to come.
With only second place assured of a pot two seeding in December’s Euro 2028 draw, Scotland need an extraordinary turn of events if they aren’t to land in pot three.
Asked how tall an order that would now be, Pocognoli replied: ‘Yes. I said when we started the Nations League we wanted to be ambitious and strong in terms of the ranking.
‘There are still two games to go. Slovenia is now leading us in second place. We need to get six points out of six and hope Slovenia lose some points. We are not in a comfortable situation to fight for this. We just have to try to take maximum points.’
