He said: "It is not about setting targets for players at Hampden.

"If James plays a blinder the way he did the other night and makes three goals for somebody or he has to work back to save a goal then that's all in the name of the game.

"It is hard to single out individuals from Saturday night. It was a great collective performance.

"All I am looking for from every single player is to bring their highest performance level to the game. Everybody would be satisfied by that.

"Does that guarantee 100 per cent you can win? Maybe it doesn't but one thing for sure, I am pretty optimistic after that. That is how you have to look at it."

McLeish insists his squad worked hard to take positives from the defeat in Israel, where the 2-1 scoreline was no reflection of the home side's superiority.

The former Scotland defender said: "Nobody likes to lose.

"When we lose and we know we have another game to prepare for, we have to show the resilience, but also it makes you work even harder to put it right and we did that in the Albania game with a fantastic performance from the players.

"We also respect Israel, they've been on a good run of form. We feel very strong here at Hampden and we would love to get the fans
right behind the players from the very first kick of the ball right through to the end."

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