Scotland manager Sebastien Pocognoli has admitted his players had to 'suffer' together during a difficult first half before a half-time tactical change sparked a much-improved performance in the 0-0 Nations League draw away to Slovenia.
Pocognoli watched his new-look Scotland fall behind in the opening 45 minutes as the home side dominated almost the entirety of the half. The Belgian boss looked on with obvious concern from the touchline as Slovenia controlled possession and territory.
Scotland recovered after the interval to make much more of a contest, with his frontmen missing a string of chances to open up his reign with a win. Pocognoli admitted afterwards that the first half quickly deteriorated into an ordeal as he attempted to find solutions from the touchline.
Pocognoli: 'We suffered'
Speaking after the match, Pocognoli said: "The last feeling in the dressing room some minutes ago was positive because we had a good second half."
He added: "We faced what we expected, a really aggressive Slovenia team but we were a little bit surprised about their shape. It looked like a back five but it was actually a back four when they were on the ball."
"Because of that we really struggled to find a way to press so we were quite deep and low on the pitch. That meant we suffered."
Half-time adjustments
Pocognoli revealed how he tweaked his system during the interval to help his players get on top in the second half. He explained: "We just had to reconsider what we expected from the game, adjust some things and stay calm."
"They had to put in a lot of effort just to recover from the domino effect of bad positioning. It cost a lot of energy."
"But you need to say to the players, 'OK we will adjust. We will probably be more dominant and the space between the lines will be bigger because we have big quality on the ball.'"
He added: "So at half time we adjusted one or two things and we were much better with two 6s and two 10s. It helped us to press higher up the pitch and was better for the counter press because we were not running everywhere."
Clean sheet a positive
Pocognoli described the second half as "very good" and noted the clean sheet as a positive for his defenders. He said: "In my opinion it was a very good second half. We created chances that we maybe should have to score."
"But it was a good counter press, with a good, high defensive line and good communication on the pitch. I could see the players enjoyed the second half. At the end it's a clean sheet and that's also positive for the defenders."
He acknowledged the disappointment of not taking a win but said attention now turns to the next game. "But I hope we can produce in the next game what we produced in the second half today," he said.
Pocognoli also played down concerns over missed chances, saying: "I don't want to make a big topic about the missing of chances. That can happen. But what the offensive players delivered also in terms of pressing was maybe more than they have done before. So maybe they missed some freshness in the last movement."
"But, yes, we should have scored but we are happy about the general performance. The strikers were the last detail today."
