It’s all up for grabs in attack but no doubt that Billy Gilmour is the man in midfield to make Scotland tick in this new era
Quite who Sebastien Pocognoli will settle upon to play up top for New Scotland remains anyone’s guess.
There’s no question, though, that Billy Gilmour is the man to make his midfield tick. Just how pleasing was it to see him back in national team colours in Ljubljana on Saturday afternoon following the knee injury that ruled him out of the World Cup in such cruel fashion at the last minute?
Gilmour remains the best technical player Scotland have. There is no one else like him. No one else with his particular qualities.
In games against better opposition, the 25-year-old is pretty much the only guy we have in the engine room to take the ball in tight positions, keep possession, rotate the play, influence the tempo, just stop things being so frantic at times.
In that much improved second half against Slovenia, he showed so much more of what he can offer as well. With Bologna’s Lewis Ferguson there beside him to offer discipline and support, Gilmour was invited to get into more advanced positions and be a real centre of some of Scotland’s more progressive football.
Part of what made Pocognoli’s Union Saint-Gilloise team successful when they won the Belgian title back in 2025 was that they tended to move the ball forward quickly, whether through good forward passing or going direct.
Billy Gilmour was excellent in midfield for Scotland in the goalless draw at Slovenia
The Napoli midfielder could be the key man Pocognoli will rely on in the engine room
When Scotland finally got their heads round this after a pretty dismal and disjointed first 45 and made some alterations to the shape, Gilmour shone. He ran the show.
He won second balls, surged forward when the opportunity afforded itself, wanted possession and played some absolutely brilliant, incisive passes to create bona-fide chances. He could maybe even have scored himself.
With the game approaching the hour-mark, another forward run resulted in a pass to Oli McBurnie. The Hull City forward did well to hold off his man and set Gilmour up with a return ball.
Maybe having scored for Napoli against Fiorentina just six days earlier, it was a little too much to expect him to hit the net again. He isn’t exactly prolific in that regard, which is maybe one thing he could keep seeking to improve.
There was nothing wrong with his sidefooted effort, to be fair. Jan Oblak made a good save in the opposition goal.
In truth, it was just great to see Gilmour in these positions, looking strong and fit and dangerous. Not to mention resplendent in his new longer, floppier, Italian hairstyle.
His highlights reel from this second 45 will be a delight to watch when it comes to the coaching staff reflecting on the positives from this game. Shortly after his own effort, he set Robbie Ure up on the right hand side of the area.
It would have been good to see the Sevilla man drill the ball across the keeper. Instead, he attempted a square ball into nowhere with no real conviction. It was a hesitancy that always felt like it was there, just under the surface, on his debut appearance.
The pass of the match probably came 12 minutes from time, though.
Gilmour found space amid a number of white shirts to pick out substitute Kieron Bowie inside the area. It was an act of real vision and perfect execution. The Sassuolo striker’s first touch was nice and the ball sat up perfectly for him, but his sclaffed effort with his favoured left foot was a crushing disappointment. He should probably have scored. He should definitely have hit the target.
Oli McBurnie sees his headed effort saved in the second half of the 0-0 draw
Gilmour dictated proceedings and looks like a player that has rediscovered his confidence
Let’s just hope Gilmour can carry on this kind of form when he returns to Serie A and nail down a regular starting place at Napoli. With Scott McTominay missing of late following heart surgery, Gilmour has been playing beside Stanislav Lobotka as a kind of double pivot and doing well.
His head coach Max Allegri has singled him out for special praise recently. That Pocognoli followed his lead at time-up in Slovenia suggests he knows Gilmour is a guy he needs to figure out how to get the best out of.
Scotland are a better team with him. We learned that round about this time last year when he was left out of a World Cup qualifier with Greece and helped inspire a late comeback to secure a crucial 3-1 victory. It was confirmed in summer with some more of the toothless stuff in North America that eventually led to the end of Steve Clarke’s reign.
‘He is a fantastic player,’ said Pocognoli post-match. ‘I really like him. He is really the type of player we miss in the big topic of modern football — creative players who look always forward, who are always ready to find a solution with a clear game plan.
‘Also, he has a good presence around the box and is very good defensively. We’re happy he is back and we can move on with this good performance.’
Pocognoli can certainly take encouragement from a number of performances in that second period. The system worked a lot better after the break. One reason for that was that the wing-backs, Aaron Hickey and Andy Robertson, looked to be getting further up the park from the early stages.
A tactical tweak with McBurnie paid off too. In the first half, he looked to be forming a front two with Ure when Scotland had the ball and peeling off more to the left when we didn’t. In the second half, he looked like he was playing more in pockets, linking up nicely.
McBurnie has a lot to prove. The pre-2021 phase of his Scotland career offered little to suggest the 30-year-old was capable of succeeding at international level. His return to the fray yesterday — and his 17th cap — didn’t offer quite enough to totally convince, but he did pretty well all things considered. He definitely deserves another go.
He adapted well to being asked to play a different kind of role and got stronger as the game went on. The problem was that, just like Bowie and Ure, he passed up a great chance.
Having played a pass into Ure’s feet early in the second half, he benefited from a break of the ball and skipped past Vanja Drkusic to surge into the area. He should have shot immediately. Instead, he hesitated then tried to round Oblak and found the keeper too smart for him.
It might be a sliding doors moment for him. It might not. He admits himself, though, that he really needs to be scoring to make the most of this real shot at redemption.
McBurnie, Bowie and Ure all did fine yesterday. There are still three games in this Nations League quadruple-header for Pocognoli to have a closer look at them all. The problem is that they all passed up big chances — Ure also hit the outside of the post with a shot from distance at the end of the first period — and we’re still none the wiser over who the lead striker ought to be.
Pocognoli clearly likes a back three. When McTominay is back, it is hard to imagine Scotland not using him beside John McGinn in an advanced position in a 3-4-2-1 set-up. It gets all our best midfield players on the park providing they are fit. It would also mean there is only space for one centre-forward.
That’s still all up for grabs. Pocognoli really needs one of his available options to take the situation by the scruff of the neck and show he can be a gamechanger.
It’s a little different in the centre of the park. Gilmour’s back. And looking capable of taking real steps forward under a coach clearly keen to let him show his full range of capabilities.
