Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli has conceded his new-look side is likely to finish third in their Nations League group following Tuesday's defeat to Slovenia at Hampden Park.
The recently appointed national boss has won just one of his first four games in charge as Steve Clarke's replacement, collecting only four points from a possible 12. That return leaves Scotland looking destined to be beaten into second place by the Slovenians, and prevented from claiming a pot two seeding for the next European Championship qualification campaign.
Marginal chances of second place
Pocognoli admits Scotland's chances of finishing as runners-up are now marginal, even if his team takes six points from the final two games against North Macedonia and group leaders Switzerland next month.
Asked if he thinks it will be difficult to achieve a second-place finish, he said: "Yes. I said when we started the Nations League that we wanted to be ambitious and strong in terms of the ranking.
"There are still two games to go. Slovenia is now leading us in second place. We need to get six points out of six and hope Slovenia lose some points. We are not in a comfortable situation to fight for this. We just have to try to take maximum points."
Improvement needed across the board
Pocognoli admits his side will have to improve in almost all aspects if Scotland are to avoid more misery in the November double header.
He said: "We have to improve everything. I will not say that everything is perfect or that everything is bad.
"But we need to improve many things. We created many chances in two of the four games. On Tuesday night there were less chances. And we defended with less quality. This game for me has to be a consideration of what we need to improve."
Bigger picture remains positive
Despite the setback, the Belgian remains adamant that his big Scotland rebrand is on the right track.
He said: "I always look at the bigger picture because we made a selection with some strong decisions. We brought in some new faces. It was exciting also to see them. They also produced some good games. We experimented with things.
"On Tuesday, we saw what we need to improve and that's what this camp was also used to do. There were a lot of exciting things during the camp. For sure the points aspect is important. The ranking is that we are in third position with four points.
"That's not where we want to be. We want to combine the good result with the good feeling that we had. But we couldn't deliver. If you look at the big picture, I hope that this camp will make sense in the future.
"We worked a lot during the camp and they did a good job. They played some good games and the attitude was great. OK, on Tuesday we had a disappointment, but it is important also to see each other in November with a good feeling."
