SCOTLAND kick off their Nations League campaign tonight against a familiar adversary, and one that they will face once again in a month’s time for our do-or-die Euro 2020 play-offs. But that being said, there are one or two notable developments that have occurred since we last faced Israel back in November 2018.

A hat-trick from James Forrest and a superb late save from Allan McGregor ensured that night ended in victory for the Tartan Army, but the two managers in the Hampden dugouts this evening will be squaring up against each other for the first time.

While training camps and competitive matches have been off the cards over summer as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the former Killie boss has had time to work with his squad and to impose his ideas on the team. However, that is a luxury that has not been afforded to Israel’s caretaker manager Willibald Ruttensteiner, who replaced Andi Herzog earlier this year – and indeed, there are other concerns as the new boss prepares for his international bow.

“We’ve gone through a lot over the last few months,” explains Raphael Geller, an Israeli football expert. “Our manager left and the technical director of the FA decided to take the job. He doesn’t really have that much experience.

“He’s not really a coach, he’s more of a technical guy who likes to build a vision from the youth to the senior team. No one expected him to be the coach. Everyone says they think he got it because they were paying him already and with coronavirus, they didn’t want to bring in a new coach.

“He was caretaker at Austria a couple of times in the past. He’s one of these people who is a long-term veteran of at the Austrian FA, working in a lot of different roles so he’s not really a manager. He coached in the 1990s and early 2000s, he coached the under-21 team at Austria but he’s not at all a manager. He’s more a guy who will watch video, talk to players, hire the manager and building up.”

That should serve as a small nod of encouragement for Clarke’s men ahead of their double-header against Israel and the Czech Republic but, as Geller points out, there will still be a sense of continuity within tonight’s opponents. The 3-5-2 formation favoured by Herzog will still be utilised, and there are one or two standout players that will need to be given their fair share of attention.

Geller said: “They’ll play three at the back and two very, very attacking wing-backs in a 3-5-2. The wing-backs are players that are very capable of good crosses and take over the spots of the wingers that would otherwise be there.

“They’re guys who have played basically their entire career really far up the pitch, which is also where they play for their clubs. Eli Dasa is at Vitesse in the Eredivisie and Taleb Tawatha is at Ludogorets in Bulgaria, and he played in the Bundesliga for Frankfurt.

“Dasa was probably one of the best players at Maccabi Tel Aviv before he moved to Vitesse. In terms of the midfield, I’m not exactly sure but it will probably be Dan Glazer and then up top, Eran Zahavi is always going to start no matter what.

“If Bibras Natkho is starting in the middle – which I think he will because he’s our captain – then yeah, it will be very attacking. At Partizan, they’re scoring a lot of goals and he plays as the playmaker even though he’s a classic number eight, he’s not a ten by any means.

“In this kind of match, why not? You should test the other side and get everything ready for the real thing next month. Obviously, the result matters because it’s not a friendly but I think both countries would be happy to lose this one if it meant they won next month.”

Zahavi, in particular, will be a key attacking threat for Israel tonight. The 33-year-old plies his trade in the Chinese Super League but don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s simply enjoying one last pay day. As Geller explains, nothing could be further from the truth – and it would be unfair to suggest that Israel are a one-man team in attack.

“The thing about him that’s always made him different from any player I’ve spoken to or met is that he always cares,” Geller said. “If he’s playing with his three-year-old kid in his garden he’s going to be just as competitive.

“The reason that in China he scores 30 goals every season and is voted the best player in the league when there’s lots of better players than him in terms of their CVs and where they’ve come from is because he actually cares about playing. Every game is like a cup final.

“Next to him will probably be Moanes Dabbour, who’s at Hoffenheim. He was a superstar at Red Bull Salzburg and got a move to Sevilla. It was a weird move, he signed in the January window to come in the summer and in that time, new people came in and didn’t really want him.

“There were three strikers ahead of him and he didn’t really get any playing time, even though they bought him for 17 million euros. Then he got sold to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and has been doing pretty good.

“An interesting thing to look out for is Shon Weissman, who was recently sold to La Liga. He was linked with Celtic but signed for Valladolid. He was sixth in the Golden Boot last year for Europe, he had 33 goals in the Austrian Bundesliga playing for Wolfsberger.”

As for where Israel’s weaknesses lie, Geller says Scottish fans do not need to look too far from home to gain an understanding of the team’s faults.

“We’re very similar to Scotland – our defence has always let us down,” he said. “The centre-backs, none of them are at an elite level like our attacking players are. You watch some of our matches and the midfield is linking well with the attacking players. The defence is always a problem but I think there’s going to be a high press from the guys up top.

“The Israelis know that the Scottish team on paper is always going to better when you’ve got the majority of your players playing in the English Championship or the Premier League. People recognise that but at the same time, the Israelis compare themselves to Scotland quite a lot. You have a lot of talent but something always goes wrong.”