An elongated international window does not prevent Sébastien Pocognoli from glancing towards the next one. Scott McTominay’s absence from Scotland’s opening set of Nations League games is understandable as the Napoli midfielder recovers from a heart procedure.

The scoreless draw in Slovenia on Saturday raised the question of where McTominay will fit in when he returns. “He can play in many positions,” Pocognoli said. “He is a top player so he can read the game. We will see.”

Indeed we will. The answer is not immediately obvious. Pocognoli deployed Billy Gilmour and Lewis Ferguson as central midfielders in Ljubljana with John McGinn placed 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. McGinn, like McTominay, is a mainstay of the team. It is therefore legitimate to ask how Pocognoli handles McTominay, who is expected to return to the Scotland scene in November.

“For now we just need to put the structure in place,” Pocognoli said. “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.’

“Andy Robertson was really positive after the game and said that he really enjoyed it. It is really good to hear that from top players.”

That Scotland improved markedly after half-time messaging from Pocognoli, in his maiden match as the country’s manager, reflected 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. Pocognoli 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.

“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 surely awaits for Scotland on Tuesday. Switzerland may be without Granit Xhaka but they still swatted aside North Macedonia 3-0 on Saturday evening. Pocognoli is in that tricky position of trying to learn 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.”