Robertson: Scotland 'outfought' in Nations League defeat to Slovenia

Andy Robertson conceded Scotland were "not good enough" and "outfought" during their 2-1 defeat at home to Slovenia in the Nations League on Tuesday. 

Following Sebastien Pocognoli's first win in charge against North Macedonia last time out, Scotland started well and took the lead through Ryan Christie in the 31st minute. 

However, Slovenia hit back just before the hour when Aljosa Matko collected Danijel Sturm's pass before squeezing his left-footed shot beyond the grasp of Angus Gunn. 

Matko and Sturm combined again for Slovenia's winner in the 71st minute, with the latter tucking home from close range as jeers rang out among the home supporters. 

Scotland have now lost three of their last four home matches in all competitions (W1), as many defeats as in their previous nine matches at Hampden Park (W4 D2).

In what was meant to be a memorable match for Robertson, who was presented with a shirt by Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and Steve Clarke to mark his 100th appearance for Scotland last week, the Tottenham full-back was left far from impressed by the effort on the pitch. 

"Not good enough. The whole team on the pitch, I don't think it was a good performance at all," Robertson told BBC Scotland.

"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. I don't care about myself too much with personal achievements.

"It was amazing that my three ex-managers came – I can't thank them enough. It was a really nice touch from everyone at the SFA to organise that for me.

"That moment will never be taken away from me, but at the end of the day when the whistle goes, I don't care if it's my first cap or my 101st cap. We wanted to kick on from Saturday because we had a really positive feeling about what we were doing and where we were going. We didn't do that.

"It's been a long camp, I don't know if it was down to tiredness, but as far as I'm concerned, Slovenia have played the same number of games as us.

"They looked a lot fresher, a lot hungrier. As Scotland, we might lack quality or make mistakes, but people don't accept being outfought. I think that's what happened."

The result leaves Scotland third in Group B1 and three points behind Slovenia after their first four matches, with the pressure already mounting on Pocognoli. 

Pocognoli is the fourth Scotland manager to lose his opening two home games in charge of the national team and the first since Berti Vogts in August 2002.

Scotland won the expected goals (xG) battle, registering a total of 2.17 from their 12 shots to Slovenia's 1.33 from their 10 attempts, but their quality was not enough up front. 

And speaking after the defeat, Pocognoli echoed Robertson's comments, adding that his team were far from the level he expects from them. 

"We didn't deserve to get the win, that's the reality. We didn't deliver a great game. On the ball and off the ball, we were below the level we expected," Pocognoli said.

"We were not proactive enough, on and off the ball. Probably the structure off the ball needs to be more proactive, front-footed to push the line higher.

"On the ball we were not clever enough. We were far from strong enough in the duels.

"It's a process about being brave, trying to defend forward, and we were not compact in our defensive shape.

"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."

Scotland return to action on November 13 at home to North Macedonia before they make the trip to face group leaders Switzerland three days later.