Scotland boss Pocognoli says Louis van Gaal still shapes how he coaches

Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli says the lessons he uses every day were shaped by Louis van Gaal, the former Netherlands manager who coached him at AZ Alkmaar. Speaking to BBC Scotland, Pocognoli said Van Gaal was probably the most experienced of the managers he has worked under.

Pocognoli played for AZ, a Dutch club based in Alkmaar, and worked under Van Gaal there. Two years earlier, in 2009, he had won the Eredivisie, the top division in the Netherlands, with the club. The Eredivisie is the Dutch equivalent of the Premier League in England or the Scottish Premiership, and winning it is a major honour for any player.

Van Gaal is one of the best-known coaches in Dutch football. He previously took charge of the Netherlands national team, a job that puts a manager in front of the whole country every few months. Pocognoli's own path into management has taken a different shape, but he has kept the lessons from those years close.

The one that stands out most is how Van Gaal treated young players. Pocognoli described his approach as direct, honest and hard. He said that style still inspires his daily work with his own squad, where he is trying to help players grow.

Pocognoli also said he felt himself progress while playing under Van Gaal. He said the manager impressed him day by day, not only in big moments but in the routines of training and the small corrections that add up over a season.

It is rare for a current coach to speak so openly about the person who first taught him the trade. For Scotland's players, it offers a glimpse of the standards and thinking their head coach brings to the job. For football fans, it is a reminder that managers are shaped by the people they once worked for, long before they wear the badge themselves.