WOULDN’T it be so very like Scotland if they were to follow up their dire display and catastrophic loss to Georgia with a stirring showing and memorable result against Germany?

Traditionally, the national team have often been at their very best when they have been widely written off ahead of a meeting against far superior opposition.

Being installed as favourites for a game, as was the case in their Euro 2016 qualifier in Tbilisi on Friday night, does not sit comfortably with this country.

Being labelled no-hopers ahead of meetings with rivals peppered with household names, meanwhile, has inspired some courageous performances and unforgettable triumphs.

Scotland have beaten World Cup winners and finalists in the past. The scalps of England (1967), Argentina (1990) and France (in 2006 and 2007) have all been claimed. Surely, then, they can defy the odds and do so again?

Alas, on this particular occasion, getting something, even a point, against Joachim Loew’s stellar side is a feat which appears beyond the capability of Gordon Strachan’s hard-working team.

Just keeping the scoreline respectable, merely avoiding a humiliating drubbing, will be an achievement of sorts by the home team at Hampden this evening.

Scotland are clearly not the accomplished international performers so many rushed to proclaim them as after their encouraging start to Group D.

Nor, though, are they the hopeless rabble which they have been dismissed as by some in the wake of their 1-0 defeat to opponents placed a lowly 147th in the FIFA world rankings.

There should, despite the marathon return-journey from Georgia in the early hours of Saturday morning and the lack of recovery time, be a reaction to a defeat which has jeopardised our prospects of progressing to the European Championship finals in France next year.

However, expecting them to overcome visitors who defeated Brazil 7-1 in Brazil last summer en route to their fourth World Cup victory is unrealistic.

Phillip Lahm, Per Mertesacker and Miroslav Klose all retired after Germany’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the Maracana and Loew is in the process of rebuilding. He is making a fairly decent fist of it. His charges defeated Poland 3-1 in Frankfurt on Friday night to displace their opponents as section leaders.

After a definite World Cup hangover and shaky start to their qualifying campaign – they lost to Poland away and drew with the Republic of Ireland at home in their second and third outings – normal service appears to have been resumed.

And no wonder. Their team last week contained, among others, Manuel Neur, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mats Hummels, Toni Kroos, Thomas Mueller and Mario Goetze. Will any of them, you wonder, have heard of Grant Hanley?

Strachan should make extensive changes in an attempt to avoid a re-run of the horror show. Hanley, Steven Whittaker, Darren Fletcher, James McArthur, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths will all be hoping to be drafted into the starting line-up. There is also a possibility that Chris Martin will play.

Yet, was the problem against Georgia last week with the players who the national manager selected? Or was it with the 4-2-3-1 formation which he relies upon?

Georgia coach Kakhaber Tskhadadze offered a fairly detailed and accurate assessment of how Scotland played as he spoke to the media at his pre-match press conference last Thursday. He then proceeded to counter their strengths and nullify the threat they posed effectively.

Scott Brown and James Morrison, normally so important for Scotland, cut frustrated figures in a midfield flooded with Georgian players. They were heavily outnumbered in that key area. Ahead of them, Ikechi Anya, Steven Naismith, Shaun Maloney and Steven Fletcher looked isolated and were starved of decent service.

Scotland did not have a single shot on target in the Boris Paichadze Stadium against a side which had been forced to draft in a new keeper¸ Nukri Revishvili, due to their first choice goalie, Giorgi Loria, being without a club and short of competitive football.

It looked distinctly like Scotland had, after utilising the same system in their previous six games, become too predictable. They were certainly completely devoid of any creativity going forward and failed to engineer a solitary opening in the final third against their highly-defensive adversaries.

Every one of the key players failed to perform to the best of their abilities: Brown, Morrison, Maloney and Naismith in particular were all poor. But Strachan must, too, accept some responsibility for failing to identify the problem and make changes during the course of the 90 minutes.

Perhaps, then, it is time for a rethink. A new set-up would enable the national team to ask different questions and test sides in new ways. Having a Plan B to revert to if, as was very much the case on Friday night, a side sets out specifically to prevent them from playing, would be highly beneficial.

Still, it is improbable Scotland will, regardless of how they line up, be able to contain or test a Germany team which occupies a different stratosphere even with the backing of the majority of the 52,000-strong sell-out crowd.

Then again, perhaps once more they will romp to an epic victory which stuns world football . . .