Robertson: Scotland "outfought" and "not good enough" in 2-1 Nations League defeat by Slovenia

Scotland captain Andy Robertson said his side were "outfought" and "not good enough" after they lost 2-1 to Slovenia at Hampden Park in a Nations League match on 6 October 2026. Scotland had led at half-time but conceded twice in the second half as Slovenia came from behind to win.

Sebastien Pocognoli took charge of the national team in August as Steve Clarke's successor and pledged a more attacking approach, introducing several new players during his early fixtures. Josh McPake made his debut against Slovenia, following earlier call-ups for Stephen Welsh, Robbie Ure, Luis Binks and Luke Graham across the previous three matches. Pocognoli's first match ended in a goalless draw in Slovenia, and a subsequent 3-0 home defeat by Switzerland was affected by Jack Hendry's early red card, before Scotland delivered a convincing win over North Macedonia on Saturday that had raised optimism.

Scotland went in front at half-time when Ryan Christie scored with a close-range backheel, but Danijel Sturm and Aljosa Matko struck in the second half to overturn the deficit and secure a 2-1 victory for Slovenia. The visitors repeatedly exploited space behind Scotland's high defensive line during the game.

"Not good enough," Robertson told BBC Sport Scotland. "The whole team. We didn't do the good things we did on Saturday, I don't know what that's down to. They caused us a lot of problems and we have to find the reasons why. We wanted to kick on from Saturday because we had a really positive feeling about what we're doing and where we're going. We didn't do that. "It's been a long camp, I don't know if it was down to tiredness, but Slovenia have played the same amount of games as us. They looked a lot fresher, more hungry. "As Scotland, we might lack quality or make mistakes, but I don't think people accept being outfought. I think that's what happened tonight."

Pocognoli said Scotland were below the standard required and accepted the result. "We didn't deserve to get the win, that's the reality," he said. "On the ball we were not clever enough. We were far from strong enough in the duels."

Former Scotland midfielder Andy Halliday criticised the performance on Sportsound, saying: "I thought coming into this camp, Pocognoli would probably need a period of grace. I think that period of grace is now over. That was as poor a Scotland performance as I can remember for a while against an opposition you are expecting us to go and beat." Ex-captain Willie Miller questioned whether Pocognoli's preferred back-three system is viable after Slovenia repeatedly exploited gaps, asking: "Our situation is we've got a new manager in, he's got a preferred system, what does he do? Does he just bin it? Are we back to a back four?"

Pocognoli acknowledged the match offered lessons for the group, saying: "The reality is each game teaches us some information. We will try to go through the process we want and learn from this one and do better in the next one."