Scotland fans came to Hampden to welcome the new man, Sebastien Pocognoli, and left with all the woes of old weighing them down as they went. More calamitous defending in the beginning, another self-inflicted wound that was a complete game-changer, another day without a goal - four in a row now. In the early minutes when Jack Hendry got himself sent off, we may as well have been back amid the meltdown of Miami, when Scotland gifted Brazil one goal and then two, when they made a fiendishly-difficult job an impossible one on the back of slapstick in defence.
So it was again on Tuesday. Hendry's red card was a grim moment that sucked the life out of the occasion. Switzerland don't lose many games.
Argentina had the devil's own job in seeing them off in extra-time at the World Cup; Germany beat them 4-3 in a friendly, the winner only coming in the 85th minute. They're full of nous and strength and belief. Their coach, Murat Yakin, has the calm authority of a man who knows, with absolute certainty, that his team will prevail.
Once the opening goal went in, Yakin turned around in his technical area with a half-smile on his face. Pocognoli still awaits first goal after 10-man Scotland lose to Switzerland Who 'battled impressively' for Scots? And how did you rate players?
Hampden debut to forget but Pocognoli looks at bigger picture There was little Scotland could do about the brilliant way the Swiss cut them open to send Dan Ndoye away so early in the game, but there was plenty Hendry could have done - or should not have done - when he was at the heart of a foot-rush and a mismatch. Watching it unfold was painful. Ndoye was always winning the race.
An experienced defender, Hendry knew that. He also would have known that any desperate and ill-fated attempt to halt Ndoye was only going to end one way. He was in no position to make a legitimate challenge.
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