A win over Scotland would help Herzog win over his own fans

Israel boss Andreas Herzog has vowed to have a real go at Scotland in a bid to end a dismal record that has seen them net just three goals in two years. The Scots are hoping to maintain their decent Nations League start that saw them comfortably sweep aside Albania in the group’s opener last month. But they are up against a nation who have suffered a severe crisis in confidence in recent times, and the Israelis have turned to an unlikely figure to save them. Former Bayern Munich and Werder Breman ace Herzog is Austria’s most-capped player, and won the last of the 103 he earned against Scotland in 2003. Herzog had been caretakermanager and assistant-manager of Austria, and between 2011 and 2016 he was assistant manager to Jurgen Klinsmann with the USA. His surprise appointment as Israeli manager was all the more controversial because he scored a famous injury-time equaliser for Austria against Israel in 2001, which prevented Israel from reaching the World Cup play-offs. Former Celtic flop Eyal Berkovic was so outraged at the appointment, he blasted: “Whoever made this decision needs urgent psychiatric attention. I can’t think of any other explanation for the appointment. It’s a huge disgrace.” But Israel are in disarray. They have won just once in two years (a 1-0 win in Liechtenstein) and their other two goals in their past nine games came against Moldova and Romania. However, Herzog is convinced better times lie ahead for Israel and has picked a more-attacking squad for the game against Scotland. He watched his side lose 1-0 in Albania in the opening Nations League game and follow that up by capitulating to a 3-0 defeat in Northern Ireland. He’s opted to recall attacking midfielder Eran Zahavi, who now plays in China with Guangzhou, and call up Maccabi Haifa’s talented young striker, Mohammed Awaed. And Herzog has pledged to change the way Israel play. He said: “When I first became manager, I watched the previous games and it was very obvious that the team had forgotten how to attack. “I made a pledge that I would start to change the way we played and try to attack more and bring more strikers and attack-minded players into the squad. “We played Albania, and I thought we were unlucky to lose. “But the next game in Northern Ireland was a very tough evening for us. I take full responsibility for that because we experimented a bit. “The reason we picked Northern Ireland to play in a friendly is because I believe they are very similar in all respects to Scotland. “They play the same way and have similar abilities. “But we know we have a lot of improvement to do before we play Scotland. “It’s a case of taking games one step at a time and, for us, our main aim is to improve our home record which has been very poor.” And Herzog is expecting a tough test from Scotland at the Sammy Ofer Stadium. He said: “Scotland are the highest-ranked team in the group and are favourites to win it. “One look at their squad proves their quality. They have players from Celtic, Rangers, Manchester United and the English Premier League. “We expect a battle and a physical encounter. But we are slowly changing our style of play and we expect to score this time. “I admit it hasn’t looked good lately for the Israel national team, but we want to change that. This is an honour and a great privilege and challenge for me. I want to lead Israel to the Euro 2020 finals.”