AS Scotland supporters have found out over the past two painful decades, sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

When Craig Brown’s tenure as Scotland manager went out with a whimper after failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, there weren’t too many tears shed among a Tartan Army who had grown jaded with Brown’s disciplined approach and priority to make the national side difficult to beat above all else, often at the expense of attacking expression. What they would give for such problems these days.

The appointment of Alex McLeish for a second time as head coach of his country was viewed as a backwards step by many, but just how far back into the past Scotland were delving was perhaps even understated. McLeish has revealed that he has been tapping into the tactical playbook of the wily old fox of the Scottish game as he tries to find a system that best accommodates the talents at his disposal.

It has been no mean feat, as he tries to find a way to not only get his best players like Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney and Ryan Fraser into the side, but get the best out of them while having to place some square pegs into round holes.

The comfortable win over Albania last time out, suggests he may be on the right track.

“The system evolved because of some of the great players we have,” McLeish said. “I thought; ‘why not?’ It has come into vogue again. [Antonio] Conte made it work at Chelsea after his poor start with 4-4-2 and obviously keeping up with the game at the top level you see the trend is there.

“I actually spoke to Broon a couple of months ago and I said it was very likely we would play similar to him and spoke about some of the issues when you have to make it tighter.

“There were some tactics going to and fro, but we also took inspiration from the Auld Enemy when [manager Gareth] Southgate moved Kyle Walker into centre-back to accommodate two really good players into the same team.

“We feel that we can maybe adjust the system as well and play 3-4-3 the way the Belgians have played against us. That’s worked for them - and also helped by the fact they have world-class players.

“Also, there’s variations within that. Right now, the defensive side is the three, but we can go to a four at any moment and we have to prepare the players for it tactically. If we play two in central midfield, the two need to dovetail and we don’t leave gaps.”

There is of course one hugely conspicuous gap in the Scotland midfield to fill now former captain Scott Brown has retired from international duty, and while John McGinn has been touted as a natural successor to lead the engine room, McLeish envisions an important role for Fulham man Kevin McDonald.

“Scott has tremendous experience and you lose that nous of him in that role,” McLeish said. “We went with big Kevin McDonald and I’d seen a lot of him over the last few years and he’s done well.

“Maybe you can grow into that role and there are one or two other who could play it but there will be times we can also look at 3-4-3.

“If we play the three in midfield and you have that central hub then at the moment Kevin is the most experienced. Ryan Jack can fill that role and one or two others.

“It was a blow to lose Scott, but I could see his reasons. When I spoke to him he said he could put in 3/4 to Scotland and 3/4 to Celtic and he had to be loyal to the guys who pay his wages.”

As well as leaning on the experience of Scottish managers past, McLeish has been talking to a man who could easily have been sitting in his chair as he prepares his side for the test that awaits his men in Haifa.

Northern Ireland swept Israel aside 3-0 in a friendly at Windsor Park last month, and while McLeish isn’t reading too much into the result, he is grateful for any insight he can get his hands on. Particularly on dangerman Munas Dabbur, who Celtic found too hot to handle as he bagged a double for RB Salzburg against the Scottish champions on Thursday night.

“I met Michael O’Neill and he gave me a bit of a rundown on them and I’m going to seek more analysis from the Irish boys,” he said. “In the Northern Ireland game, it looks like a drubbing, but they have a couple of dangerous characters in their team.

“They have explosive wing-backs as well who go really high and there’s no doubt it won’t be a walkover.

“It will be a tough game and it reminds me of going to Israel when we were trying to qualify for the 1982 World Cup and we were meant to thrash them. Kenny Dalglish scored the winner from a McLeish flick on!

“Now they have two centre-forwards - Dabbur and [Tomer] Hemed who has been at a good level over the last few years.

“They are working hard on the system and I’ll be preparing the lads for a tough game. We go with confidence following the Albania performance.”