Scotland boss Sebastien Pocognoli admitted his game plan went out the window from the minute Jack Hendry was shown an early red card in last night’s 3-0 Nations League defeat to Switzerland.
The Al-Ettifaq defender brought down Swiss attacker Dan Ndoye with just eight minutes on the clock at Hampden as he bore down upon Angus Gunn’s goal, with referee Nenad Minakovic awarding a penalty and a yellow before overturning his decision to a free-kick and a sending off.
Scotland’s misery was compounded when veteran full-back Ricardo Rodriguez stepped up to curl into the top corner from the edge of the area.
Goals from Nico Elvedi and Zeki Amdouni in the second half consigned Scotland to a heavy defeat against the top seeds in the group on Pocognoli’s home bow in front of the Tartan Army.
The result leaves the Scots sitting third in Group B1 with a point to their name following Saturday’s stalemate in Slovenia, and they are already five behind the Swiss with six games remaining.
‘It was a frustrating night,’ the manager said. ‘There’s not a lot to say about the game. We can analyse the game, 80 per cent with 10 men, red card, direct finish from the free kick, so probably the worst situation we could have.
Sebastien Pocognoli was forced into changing shape after Jack Hendry’s early red card
‘We started quite aggressively and on the front foot but, after eight minutes, the game plan had to be put to the side.
‘I wanted to see if the team reacted well or not with 10 men and they did their best. They had a great attitude to stick together, trying to have a moment in transition or with a set piece. It never happened because Switzerland is a good side and they did not give anything away.
‘The red card for Jack is all of our red card. We stay together. We put this moment in our DNA today and hopefully it can be helpful for the future.
‘I had a warm welcome [from the crowd] and that made me a little bit sad because we wanted to give something back and we could not.
‘You want to give something to analyse, some direction about where we want to go and we didn’t have the chance to show that, so that frustrates me.’
Pocognoli insisted that despite his side being up against it for the majority of the contest against last summer’s World Cup quarter-finalists, there were elements about the performance to give him optimism going forward.
He said: ‘I watched the attitude of the players, I wanted to see if anyone dropped and that did not happen.
Hendry sends Ndoye tumbling to the turf and Scotland’s hopes of victory into the dustbin
‘I have nothing bad to say about the team. They did their best. They had a great attitude to stick together.
‘With 10 men, naturally given the quality of Switzerland we were more about defending. The effort with one man less, the way that they communicated, fought and tried to close the passing down, they were resilient in that moment and hopefully it can help us to be stronger.’
Pocognoli will take his side to Skopje this weekend where they will face North Macedonia – beaten 2-0 by Slovenia last night – looking to secure a maiden win of this campaign, and his first at the helm.
He admitted that while he believes his players have the quality to produce a top-level display on Saturday, maximum points must be the priority. He said: ‘It is important to have a result to give a boost to the staff, not only for me but all the people who work so hard. Also for the players.
‘We had a good second half in Slovenia, eight minutes we can analyse here with some good moments, but we need a good performance in Macedonia and the result is important.’
