The first Scotland squad in the Sebastian Pocognoli era has been announced and there have been a few changes now that Steve Clarke is no longer in charge.

First of all the unsurprising things that have stayed the same, the likes of Andy Robertson, John McGinn, Lewis Ferguson and Kieran Tierney are still the same which I don’t think anyone will be surprised or will complain about.

However there are plenty of new faces that you’d not expect to have been given a chance under the Clarke regime.

Luis Binks has been persuaded to play for Scotland after representing both England and Scotland at youth level, looking for his first cap.

Colby Donovan who just turned 20 earlier in September could provide cover in the right back area which has been a worry for a lot of Scotland fans.

Luke Graham after having a great season last season at Dundee and by all means has had a good start to life at Stoke City, I can just imagine his place may have been taken by Grant Hanley or John Souttar under Clarke.

Stephen Welsh similarly to Graham had a good season in Scotland at Motherwell and has made a solid start in the English Championship as he now plays at Swansea City.

Josh McPake has been a huge part of Hearts putting together another solid start to the season like most being an almost straight replacement for Alexandros Kyziridis, and he has been rewarded with a spot in the squad.

Robbie Ure after his record move to Sevilla in La Liga was destined to get a call up, again you’d imagine Che Adams would have still been selected under Clarke.

And also Oli McBurnie has decided to patch things up with his national team after seemingly falling out with Clarke, with his goal record in the English Championship last season with Hull City has had some calling for his return to the squad looking for his first cap since 2021.

Then lastly James Wilson who despite his age has been scoring goals for Hearts whenever he got his chance and Pocognoli has given him his chance.

The only outlier in my opinion is Calvin Miller. I think his standout performances for Falkirk last season and his strong start at Hearts should have resulted in a call up but his younger clubmates in McPake and Wilson have been chosen instead.

And that is what I take from this squad, youth, trying to get a good blend of the experienced players and younger players, to bleed through the younger players and get them playing with the experienced guys so that they can use their wisdom to guide the younger players before they are no longer playing international football.

When the likes of Robertson, McGinn, Tierney, Ferguson, Scott McTominay when he is back fit are no longer there, they have done all they can pulling from all their experience getting Scotland back to major tournaments on a regular basis, these younger players will be fully aware of what it takes to do so.

Then from Pocognoli himself there definitely be more of an attacking edge to what Scotland are trying to do, especially in these Nations League games against Slovenia, Switzerland and North Macedonia where you’re not playing elite opposition.

The plan will be to play on the front foot and press high, then when it comes to playing the top nations that will need to be tweaked although not to the point that we saw in the World Cup.

Scotland have the creativity to and forward thinking players to hurt teams and it’s about time we had a manager who could get the best out of them.

This could be an extremely exciting time for Scotland and I hope that everything goes to plan as we could now have the blend of youth and experience to take that next step in the international game.