Scotland manager Sebastien Pocognoli has the sword of Damocles hanging over him after a second successive defeat at Hampden, with goodwill from the Tartan Army likely to fade if results do not improve, according to chief sportswriter Keith Jackson.
Writing in his column, Jackson notes that no new Scotland manager has ever been appointed with the country wishing to see him fail. For that reason alone, Pocognoli can recover from his first four games in charge as Steve Clarke's successor, knowing the vast majority still wish him well.
Goodwill morphing into distrust
However, Jackson argues that when goodwill morphs into distrust, the position quickly becomes unrecoverable and ultimately untenable. That is why the sword of Damocles is already hanging over the new man's head following Tuesday night's 2-1 defeat to Slovenia at Hampden.
Jackson describes the performance as "woeful" and "pitiful" in its entirety, despite Ryan Christie's opening goal briefly appearing to pull Pocognoli out of a hole. For the last 20 minutes of the first half and 10 minutes after the interval, there was a semblance of shape and strategy, but it was never convincing and fell apart once Slovenia levelled.
Lessons to learn
For Pocognoli's benefit, Jackson dismisses it as a bad night at the office, albeit a second in succession at the national stadium, coming one week after a 3-0 thumping by Switzerland. He assumes the Belgian has learned key lessons ahead of the remaining Nations League double header against North Macedonia and the Swiss.
Jackson acknowledges this is a leap of faith, asking whether Scotland should believe in Pocognoli's "blue sky thinking" and aggressive approach, or pine for Clarke's pragmatism and caution. He argues Scotland must persevere down this pathway for long enough to find out for sure.
Pocognoli's anger and analysis
Jackson draws comfort from the rage bubbling up inside Pocognoli as he watched his side malfunction. The Belgian still believes his rebrand can come good but will not tolerate players failing to carry out his instructions.
"I was angry because we didn't deliver what we expect to deliver," Pocognoli said. "From the first minute we were not compact, not proactive to defend forward. Many times, Slovenia players were between the lines where they could get the ball and turn and face us. With this speed in front of you, that can be a problem."
He added: "At half time we tried to fix this and we started well in the first 10-15 minutes with Billy Gilmour on the ball, a little bit higher, to create. That meant we had three 10s so we had more control of the game and we were more proactive to press. Then we give away the first goal and we go back to a bad feeling."
Pocognoli dismissed suggestions his players were tired, saying: "I didn't feel this. It might look like they were tired because we were not well-positioned. It was the same feeling in the first half of the game against them in Slovenia. We were too far from the ball, just not in the right positions. And when you are not in the right position you have to cover double the distance."
He added: "I don't think that they didn't want to fight. That's not the DNA of the team and we didn't prepare the game with a feeling that it will be easy. Not at all. The front three from Slovenia dictated our back line and that was a little bit of a disappointment that we didn't deal with that better."
Pocognoli concluded: "I need to analyse why we were so passive. Is it a structure problem or is it physical or is it an intensity problem, or a back line problem? We will analyse this."
The goodwill remains in place for now while Pocognoli goes about this urgent work. But if there is little or no sign he has come up with the answers when his side gets back together next month, then that is when the distrust may begin to creep in.
