Sebastien Pocognoli believes that Ben Gannon-Doak is ready to take his game to a different level after earning himself regular game time with Bournemouth, and showed his potential in his recent man-of-the-match display against AC Milan.
The Scotland manager warned his players after his maiden camp that anyone who wasn’t playing for their clubs on a regular basis would find it hard to get into his squad in future, and Gannon-Doak has responded by putting in several impressive performances for Marco Rose’s side.
That has excited his international manager, who sees huge improvements in his decision making over the last month or so, and he has now set Gannon-Doak a fresh challenge of improving his finishing. If he can do so, he is firmly of the opinion that the sky is the limit for the great white hope of the Scottish game.
“Ben’s intensity is totally different from when he arrived in the camp in La Manga,” Pocognoli said.
“You saw his press against AC Milan or in the other Europa League games, it’s totally different fitness now.
“I am very happy with him, and I believe that if we are playing good football, it doesn’t matter the shape, he’s in the best position.
“He’s a young lad, 20 years old, so he needs confidence and to feel the love. He’s a top player and top players want to improve every day.
“I like his mentality, it’s exciting to see it but what’s the most exciting is that he’s still to improve on many aspects of the game. If he can improve on being more clinical in front of goal, he would probably have scored two goals in the last camp.
“His assist and crossing before was more with the idea of, ‘If I put a cross in, Scott McTominay will make a bicycle kick!’. But you see a little bit more of him now thinking what the next action is when he’s dribbling.
“When he’s more efficient, I think he will be a different level. But he’s only 20 years old so it’s quite exciting.
“I said to the lads when they arrived in September there were a lot of players with a lack of minutes. I said that when European football arrives, they’ll probably share it.
“I’m sure the camp we had allowed a lot of players to go back to their clubs to bounce. If you compare it to the first camp, there are maybe only two or three players who have been playing less minutes but the rest have continued.
“So, I think the camp helped them build the confidence and get some minutes.”
Another enticing aspect of this latest international double-header against North Macedonia and Switzerland for the Tartan Army is the return of Scott McTominay to the fold, and Pocognoli is just as thrilled as anyone that he can call upon the Napoli man this time around.
“I have a very good impression,” he said.
“I can imagine the fans are really excited to see him back, it has been a long time since the World Cup.
“If I was him, I’d be really excited. We will try to have a game plan so he can shine and not be too dependent on what he can produce from an individual action. I am really excited to see if it can work and what he can bring to the way we want to play.
“It’s exciting. He missed the first camp, but I was in contact with him. He’s excited to start a new book and try to push the level higher, to be successful for the next tournament.
“He’s in, he watched the games when he wasn’t here with us, so he knows the journey.”
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