Sébastien Pocognoli hopes a “smiling” Billy Gilmour will be central to Scotland’s hopes of improvement following a bruising World Cup.
Gilmour excelled in the second half on Saturday, as Pocognoli’s debut as manager ended in a goalless away draw against Slovenia in the Nations League. The Napoli midfielder missed the World Cup, where the Scots exited at the group stage, through injury. “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,” Pocognoli said of Gilmour before his Hampden Park bow against Switzerland on Tuesday evening.
“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. 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.
“I just want Billy to enjoy his football with a smile. If he can do that, the rest will come. I remember him well when he was in Brighton. I thought he was fantastic for them.”
Scotland trained on Monday at Hampden instead of 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.
The Switzerland head coach, Murat Yakin, missed his team’s Hampden Park press conference with hearing issues as the visitors suffered travel problems on the way to Glasgow. Yakin took training at Scotland’s national stadium and will hope to recover before Tuesday’s Nations League match.
A Swiss FA spokesperson said: 'Murat Yakin isn’t at the press conference because he has hearing problems. He struggled with the pressure from the flight so can’t participate in this press conference. He will be at the training session and we hope these complaints will be solved, as has been the case in the past, and he can be in good health for the game.'
The Switzerland press conference started late after a two-hour delay to the team's flight. 'There were some problems with the weight as we entered the flight,' the spokesperson added. 'It means we had to land again in Zurich and they had to put more fuel in the engine.'
Yakin’s assistant, Davide Calla, took over media duties and said: 'We’ve spent a lot of time looking at Scotland. With the change of coach it will be a different proposition to the Euros [when the teams drew 1-1 in 2024] but we know what to expect. They will be robust, play with a lot of passion and they have a lot of quality players especially in midfield with the ball at their feet.
'In the second half against Slovenia they showed the quality they have,' added Calla. 'It was clear Scotland were better in the second half. It’s an absolute highlight playing at this brilliant stadium. We’ll have lots of motivation to play in this big match.' Press Association
Pocognoli has also warned players not featuring regularly for their clubs that it will become increasingly difficult to win a place in his Scotland squads. Ben Gannon-Doak, Ryan Christie and Aaron Hickey are among key members of Pocognoli’s group who have had restricted domestic minutes this season. While the Belgian is comfortable with that scenario for now, that 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. 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.”
