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For 45 minutes in Slovenia, some in the Tartan Army might have reimagined the Steve Clarke years as a time of plenty, the halcyon era of ambitious football when Scotland were an all-electric thrill-fest.
The opening half of Sebastien Pocognoli’s regime was, as expected, disjointed.
It was also, rather unexpectedly, devoid of anything remotely related to what Pocognoli laid out as his non-negotiables – front-foot pressing, high intensity, speed of thought and mind, goal threat.
They had no shot on target and lost so many aerial duels that you stopped counting beyond the half-hour mark. They took 38 minutes to touch the ball in Slovenia’s penalty area.
It wasn’t like they were under major pressure – the hosts are a pretty toothless side – but neither were they accurate or energetic. Everybody who preached patience in the new era gulped hard.
This was not good. We didn’t expect champagne, but this was stale beer.
And then it changed, not so completely that Scotland roared and won the game, but they certainly cleared their throats as an attacking force.
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From being impotent, they became thrusting. That second half was as big a 0-0 rout as you’re likely to see. Frustrating, but encouraging at the same time.
It will be agonising for Oli McBurnie that he’s still without an international goal – he said he wouldn’t sleep after failing to convert a one-on-one with Jan Oblak – but his second-half performance was full of good things; efforts on goal, link-up play, presence and danger.
Robbie Ure hit a post, Kieron Bowie had a terrific chance, but missed. The three strikers drew a blank, but as far as 0-0s go, it offered hope that more productive days may lay ahead with these guys.
There are two ways of looking at the draw. All 10 starting outfield players had a shot on goal, the first time that’s happened since June 2022, against Armenia.
Scotland had 17 shots, their most attempts in a competitive game in more than 14 years. The flipside is that they have now failed to score in three tournament games in a row for the first time in almost 22 years.
After the break, Pocognoli dropped McBurnie a little deeper, in a pocket just behind Robbie Ure and then Bowie when he came on. He got Billy Gilmour to sit lower in midfield, where he had time to dictate, which he absolutely did.
Pocognoli called it "two games in one game" and he was right. The subtle shift in McBurnie’s and Gilmour’s positioning brought Scotland alive.
It was an impressive watch; ambition, relentlessness, belief. No cherry on top but enough there to leave most folk happy about day one and motivated ahead of day two, against Switzerland on Tuesday night at Hampden.
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Source: BBC Football
