As starts to a new era go, Scotland Under-21s' dominant 5-2 defeat of Azerbaijan was a rousing one. Findlay Curtis ran riot, Tyler Fletcher cruised through the game in midfield and three strikers all scored. All of that contributed to a fantastic team performance full of attacking elan and aggressive pressing.
It was exactly the type of display new head coach Tony Docherty and his assistant Steven Naismith demanded after replacing Scot Gemmill, who had been in charge of Scotland's best young talent for the past decade. Those appointments were the headline amid a sweeping set of changes to the coaching set-up across Scotland's international youth teams initiated by the Scottish FA's new chief football officer Craig Mulholland. The aim is to create a more streamlined and effective pathway for Scotland youth players into Sebastien Pocognoli's senior men's side.
It may only be one game - and one they should expect to win - but the under-21s certainly showed their intent to emulate the first team. "My message to them was I want you to create an identity for the Scotland Under-21 team - by your attacking style of play, by your counter-pressing," Docherty told BBC Scotland after his side's win. "And I thought we did that in abundance.
The performance level, enthusiasm and energy of the players was outstanding." Five-star Scotland Under-21s sweep aside Azerbaijan Will Pocognoli change goalkeeper after Swiss loss? The SFA's plan is for the under-21s to reflect the style and structure of the first team, to make it easier for players to move up to the next level. Docherty was in La Manga at the senior side's training camp before their Nations League games and Pocognoli has given a presentation on his game model to the age-grade coaches.
Mulholland as well as SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell and Scotland assistant Alan Irvine were in Kilmarnock on Wednesday night to observe as Docherty set his team up in the same 3-4-2-1 system Pocognoli favours - and that he himself used at Dundee. Fletcher and St Mirren's Ryan Carr occupied the midfield berths, with Curtis and James Wilson playing as inside forwards behind West Brom's Barney Stewart. Scotland pressed high, smothered their opponents and played the ball about quickly and with purpose.
It was the type of football Pocognoli described when taking over the Scotland job but that his own team has only delivered in one half against Slovenia so far. "They want us to mirror exactly what the first team do," former Falkirk striker Stewart, who scored twice on the night, told BBC Scotland. "We sit down and watch the first-team games.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
