Tony Docherty has revealed his Scotland Under-21 side will adopt a similar style to the senior team under Sebastian Pocognoli, but insists he will remain flexible to suit the occasion.
Pocognoli, the Belgian head coach of the full Scotland side, began his reign with a goalless draw in Slovenia on Saturday, deploying a 3-4-1-2 formation that is likely to be used again at Hampden Park against Switzerland on Tuesday.
Flexibility within a structure
Docherty, who takes charge of the Under-21s for the first time when they welcome Azerbaijan to Rugby Park on Wednesday in European Championship 2027 qualifying, acknowledged that his side would resemble the senior squad both in and out of possession.
“There's similarities in it, but I think again the good thing with the relationship I've got with Sebastian and the coaching staff is there's adaptability in terms of the opposition, you know,” he said.
“So there's principles within your style of playing, but it's principles that are adapted to the opponent who you're playing, because the first thing you do is identify strengths and weaknesses in your opponent, then you play a system that's going to hopefully exploit any weaknesses and negate any strengths.
“But that's done within a structure, you know, and the structure that we've got in possession, out of possession, will mirror the first team.”
Qualifying ambition
Docherty knows his immediate aim is to provide Pocognoli with the best young talent the country has to offer. But the former Dundee boss is determined to qualify for a tournament with the young Scots himself.
That last happened for the national team at this particular age group 30 years ago, when Tommy Craig was in charge.
“Well, I think the biggest thing, you know, for me as I'll go back to, I'm building on success, you know, previous squads, there's eight of them go up to the A squad, but I think one myself and Naisy (Steven Naismith), one real ambition is to make sure that we try our best in our time to qualify for a Championships, because I think the last time they did that, was 1996 under Tommy Craig,” he said.
“That's got to be a motivator. I think we've got to look at that as a two pronged attack. Of course the job is all about A squad and promoting players to that. But within that, to kind of promote a winning mentality that always got, we want to win every game we prepare, we'll prepare to win.”
