Pocognoli has no concern over Scotland's lack of goals

Scotland trained at Hampden on Monday morning [SNS]Sebastien Pocognoli says he does not have any concerns about a lack of goals as Scotland prepare for his first home match in charge against Switzerland on Tuesday.

>In his debut as head coach on Saturday, a Nations League stalemate in Slovenia was Scotland's third successive match without a goal, following World Cup blanks against Morocco and Brazil in June.

>"It was one game. Some games you score. Some games you are unlucky," said the Belgian.

>"I don't think there's any concerns from my side to score goals because we have good strikers. It's not only the strikers, but we are creating chances from many positions.

>"Let's say we score tomorrow, I hope, and we can open another topic.

>"I really hope we can start strong in the game."

>Bologna midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who played the 90 minutes in Ljubljana, echoed his national head coach's thoughts.

>"On another day we score two or three," Ferguson said of Saturday's encounter.

>"The strikers will be disappointed, but I think we'd be more worried as a group if we weren't creating those chances."

From turgid to thrusting - mixed start for new Scotland • >Why does Robbie Ure have Robbie Ure on his Scotland shirt?World Cup quarter-finalists Switzerland opened their campaign with a 3-0 victory away to North Macedonia.

>They are ranked 14th by Fifa - 28 places above Scotland - and the teams drew 1-1 at Euro 2024, while their last meeting at Hampden was a 3-1 friendly win for the visitors 20 years ago.

>Pocognoli hoped Scotland could use the Slovenia match as "like a training session" for the visit of Murat Yakin's side.

>When asked about his objectives for Tuesday, he said: "To play 90 minutes like we finished the game in Slovenia.

>"The idea will be always and certainly at home to try to take the control of the game as much as possible.

>"It will be a special moment, first time at home. I'm really looking forward for that moment since I've been appointed. As a new gaffer, that was really the date that was in my schedule that I want to experience."

>Billy Gilmour returned with a player-of-the-match display against Slovenia after missing the World Cup through injury.

>Ferguson, who experienced the same injury anguish for Euro 2024, welcomed Gilmour into the fold and believes the two friends have what it takes to form a long-term midfield partnership.

>"It's great to have him back," said Ferguson. "We work off each other really well, two completely different profiles and it suits us both. We saw that in the game.

>"We bring different things to the pitch and I thought it worked."

Team newsAsked about possible team changes, with two more fixtures in this block of games, Pocognoli talked of "experimentation".

>He added: "We try to find a balance to get results but also to see different approaches on the pitch. The idea is to have the most information after the camp, to use in the future."

>Napoli star Scott McTominay is missing for Scotland as he recovers from a minor heart procedure, while Lawrence Shankland and Che Adams are injured and Kieran Tierney was a late withdrawal, along with Kenny McLean.

>Forwards James Wilson and Findlay Curtis were released from a larger than usual squad last week to play in Wednesday's under-21 game against Azerbaijan.

>Switzerland beat North Macedonia without the vastly experienced duo of Granit Xhaka and Breel Embolo, who will play no part in this run of matches.