Scotland got straight up humbled by Slovenia, taking a brutal 2-1 Nations League defeat after being “outfought” and simply “not good enough,” according to captain Andy Robertson. What a gut punch, especially after beating North Macedonia on Saturday. Everyone expected Sebastien Pocognoli’s squad to roll that momentum into another win at Hampden Park. Nope.
Defense Totally Fell Apart in a Shocking Collapse
Things actually looked decent at halftime when Ryan Christie put Scotland up with a close-range backheel. But man, the defense was alarmingly open, just asking for trouble. Slovenia smelled blood in the second half, and Danijel Sturm and Aljosa Matko absolutely turned the game on its head with two goals. Robertson didn’t mince words after the game, telling BBC Sport Scotland, “Not good enough. The whole team.” He couldn’t even pinpoint why they didn’t do “the good things we did on Saturday.” Oof.
Robertson highlighted that Slovenia caused “a lot of problems” and they need to figure out why. He said they wanted to “kick on from Saturday” with a “really positive feeling,” but that just didn’t happen. He even wondered if tiredness played a role in what’s been a long camp, but Slovenia played the same number of games and still looked “a lot fresher, more hungry.” The kicker? Robertson said, “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.” Pocognoli himself agreed, saying, “We didn’t deserve to get the win, that’s the reality.” He added they weren’t “clever enough” on the ball and “far from strong enough in the duels.” He’s right, that’s just not acceptable.
Pocognoli’s “New Direction” Gets a Rude Awakening
When Pocognoli took over from Steve Clarke back in August, he promised a more aggressive, attacking style and brought in some new blood. Josh McPake made his debut against Slovenia, following Stephen Welsh, Robbie Ure, Luis Binks, and Luke Graham in previous matches. But this defeat? It totally dents the optimism that came from the North Macedonia win. It felt like Scotland should have even won Pocognoli’s first match, a goalless draw in Slovenia, and then they got hamstrung by Jack Hendry’s early red card in a 3-0 home loss to Switzerland. The win felt like a step forward, but this is a giant leap back.
Former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday believes Pocognoli’s honeymoon period is already done, saying on Sportsound, “I thought coming into this camp, Pocognoli would probably need a period of grace. I think that period of grace is now over.” He called it “as poor a Scotland performance as I can remember for a while against an opposition you are expecting us to go and beat.” Yikes. Former national team captain Willie Miller is also questioning Pocognoli’s preferred back three system after Slovenia repeatedly got in behind Scotland’s high defensive line. Miller stated, “His preferred system is a back three, but it was unbelievably poor.” Slovenia found “huge gaps appearing” time and time again. Pocognoli’s got to figure out if he sticks with it or goes back to a back four, because this ain’t it.
Pocognoli said they’ll “learn from this one and do better in the next one.” They absolutely have to, especially with that defense.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by BBC Sport.
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