The Sebastien Pocognoli reign begins in Ljubljana on Saturday afternoon as Scotland take on Slovenia in their opening Nations League clash.
Steve Clarke’s seven-year reign as Scotland head coach finally came to an end in the summer following another failed major tournament.
The Tartan Army scraped past Haiti in their World Cup opener in the summer, but defeats against Morocco and Brazil – both without scoring – meant that they suffered early elimination in the group stages.
Whilst Clarke was known for his pragmatic style of play, Pocognoli will look to install an aggressive and more front-foot approach.
Slovenia’s hopes of qualifying for a third World Cup and their first since 2010 never really got going following a dismal qualifying campaign.
Bostjan Cesar’s hosts failed to win any of their six qualifiers against Switzerland, Kosovo and Sweden, but four of those matches finished in draws.
How the bookies view it: Slovenia slight favourites
Given they have home advantage, Slovenia are slight favourites to claim all three points, with bet365 pricing the hosts at 31/20.
Scotland are 9/5 to make a winning start under their new Belgian head coach, whilst the draw is 21/10.
Head to head: Scots unbeaten
These two nations have previously met on five occasions, with Scotland yet to taste defeat against their hosts, with the Tartan Army winning twice and drawing the other three.
Players to watch: McBurnie to collect a card on his Scotland return?
Following an impressive start to the season with newly-promoted Hull City in the Premier League, Oli McBurnie has received his first call-up to the Scotland national team since March 2021 and is expected to lead the line.
The Tigers frontman has been booked in three of his last four appearances, and looks value at 11/4 at bet365 to collect another card on his Scotland return.
Predicted line-ups:
Slovenia will be without star striker Benjamin Sesko, whilst Zan Zaletel and Nik Prelec are also out due to injury.
Scotland will be missing Scott McTominay, Che Adam’s, Kieran Tierney and Kenny McLean through injury.
Slovenia: Oblak, Karnicnik, Bijol, Drkusic, Janza, Stojanovic, Elsnik, Gnezda, Cerin, Sturm, Sporar, Vipotnik
Scotland: Gunn, Hickey, Hendry, McKenna, Robertson, Gilmour, McGinn, Ferguson, Gannon-Doak, Christie, McBurnie
Anything else catch the eye?
With Scotland under new management, this is a tough one to call, especially with both missing key attacking players.
As alluded to, Slovenia drew four of their six World Cup qualifiers and another stalemate in Ljubljana on Saturday afternoon.
What’s more, three of the five meetings between these two nations this century have finished in draws – including the last two in Slovenia – and a repeat pays 21/10 at bet365.
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