Pocognoli backs Gannon-Doak to find killer instinct

Sebastien Pocognoli has backed Ben Gannon-Doak to find his killer instinct in the final third and establish himself as Scotland’s main man. The Bournemouth youngster had an up-and-down evening in Friday’s 2-1 Nations League win over North Macedonia, getting into numerous promising positions on the right flank and winning the penalty – dispatched by John McGinn – which decided the game. But, as has been the case throughout his Scotland career, the 21-year-old’s final ball in key moments left a lot to be desired.

Pocognoli is under no illusions that Gannon-Doak still has plenty to improve on, but insists that it won’t be long before things start to click for the talented youngster. ‘As long as he is high on the pitch and is creating one v ones I am happy,’ said the Belgian. ‘With Ben, we know that he is at a young age and needs to work on specific things. On Friday, he had great opportunities. We know that he needs to improve on the end product, but he created a penalty and against Slovenia and North Macedonia away he created a number of unbelievable one v ones.’

Pocognoli added: ‘He is a young lad, just 21. Okay, he has become more mature than he was, but I believe in one moment he will have a click about decision making. I believe if he is playing every game he can make many decisions. He will know that in the next game he will have to do it again. If he knows that he only has to play a game every two weeks, sometimes he can think, “This is my moment”.’

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It is a process,’ Pocognoli stated. ‘He will become older and at some point will become relaxed in his decision making, but at this very young age what he is producing is very good. I say exactly the same thing to him after training on the pitch. I say, “Ben, this is the next step”.’

Scotland conclude their Nations League campaign in Switzerland on Monday knowing that only a victory against the group winners will be enough if they are to have any chance of leapfrogging Slovenia – currently one point better off ahead of their trip to North Macedonia – into second spot. Should that happen, Scotland would have a crack at earning promotion to League A via a play-off in March, and also crucially guarantee their place as a Pot 2 side for the upcoming Euro 2028 qualifying draw. Pocognoli, who celebrated his first win at Hampden on Friday at the third time of asking, said: ‘We are still alive in this competition. We know we have to do more than this competition. This competition is about trying to build something. But it is nice to have that possibility on Monday to try to create something against one of the top 20 teams in the world.’

He added: ‘We need to try to be brave. Switzerland have already qualified so let’s go there and be smart because they are a good team. It is part of the process to play away against a top team. That is not something we have done yet. The approach will be different and, for me as a coach, it is a game with a lot of responsibility.’