Swiss 'probably a league apart' from Scotland

[Getty Images] Switzerland have "a ridiculously talented squad" who are "probably a league apart" from Scotland at present as the sides prepare to meet in the Nations League on Tuesday, according to football analyst John Walker. Following their 3-0 win in North Macedonia, Switzerland are the second test of Sebastien Pocognoli's reign as head coach after their 0-0 draw in Slovenia. "If Switzerland had faced the Scotland side in the first half, we wouldn't have had a second half we could have come back from," Walker said on the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast. "Switzerland would have scored goals against us the way we played the first half against Slovenia." Murat Yakin's side have only lost once in 10 outings - to Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals. "At the World Cup, if it'd not been for the red card at the time when it happened, they would have probably went on to beat Argentina as well because I felt they were on the ascendancy at that point," Walker suggested. "A ridiculously talented squad. They're probably a league apart from us just now and I wish it had been a test we weren't getting so early on in the Pocognoli era." Walker believes the absence of Xhaka "is a huge miss" for the visitors. "But then I look at the top end and it's just pace, it's power, it's talent, it's goals," he said. "I would be a little bit afraid about that." Walker thinks Scotland's best hope would be to force Switzerland "to play long" as that would suit the home central defence and believes the introduction of pace on the wing, with the likes of Ben Gannon-Doak and Josh McPake, could pay dividends. Meanwhile, he believes Oli McBurnie would be preferable as the sole striker because of his current greater experience of playing against Premier League-quality defenders.