Paul McGrath selects his side to play Israel and outlines why he would go with Gary Doherty up front

Brian Kerr has one of those odd jobs on his hands this evening. He knows that a draw in Tel Aviv won't be the end of the world but a win would open up the group. Yet he's playing an Israeli team who can attack and score goals and he knows that a loss this evening could be disastrous.

What should he do? What I'd do, and what I think Brian will do, is go for the win anyway. It's going to be a tough game but if you look back over our recent history we've been in lots of tough games against decent opposition.

We are playing well at the moment with a style of football which I get a real joy out of watching. I don't know what the point would be of bringing on the sort of players we have developed if we weren't going to go out and take a risk every now and then.

If we hang back I think we could get caught. We're not the sort of team anymore to sit and defend for 90 minutes.

When I played for Jack Charlton we might have gone into a fixture like this knowing that we would play our long-ball game over the midfield all day long and run and hassle them till they were confused.

We loved that but we play a more attractive style of football now and we have to go and press home the advantage we have in terms of skills.

A win tonight would be a big statement. It would put us clear of Israel and give us the chance to sit back and look at next Wednesday's game between France and Israel knowing that a win for the French would put Israel well back having lost six points at home in a week. A result for Israel would have deprived the French of either four or five points over their two games.

When the draw was made this wasn't a fixture which jumped out as a key one but the way things have gone with the French starting slowly and the Israelis getting a head of steam up it means this is going to be an important few days within the group.

Qualification can often go like that. Teams you are banking on to roll over can get a bit of encouragement from early games and give you real trouble.

The news on Shay Given seems to be good and that's a relief. I'd think he's up there in the top handful of goalies in the Premiership and I wouldn't want to be going into a big away game without his experience.

The way Brian will pick the rest of the team seems to be taken for granted by a lot of people. I think I'd be a bit different.

Steve Carr at right back and John O'Shea at left is probably the way to go. I feel a little sorry for John. He is too versatile a player. He's a very handy man to have on the bench at club level because he's talented in too many positions. That's a killer for a player.

For me he'd be in at left back though. For such a big man he does things on the ball that strikers can do. He's a good team player and I think there's more to come out of him in terms of Ireland.

In the centre of defence I have to admit I'm a fan of Richard Dunne. I've seen quite a bit of him this season and I like him as an old-fashioned centre-half. He is quicker than people think and he has a good football brain and the list of Premiership centre forwards he has got the better of gets longer all the time.

He's beginning to show that those performances against the Netherlands and Portugal were no fluke. I like the idea of the balance between himself and Kenny Cunningham, who just seems to grow when he puts on an Irish jersey.

In midfield there seems to be a lot of people saying that Kevin Kilbane will slip in ahead of Mattie Holland. Again I don't know. I enjoy Kevin on those runs of his. I'm not sure he always knows where he is going but he pushes and pushes. I like his energy.

He always seems to track back and get up. He's strong but I see him as essentially a wide man and unluckily for him we have good wide men in Andy Reid and Duffer.

I know Mattie has had a difficult week but the combination of himself and Roy Keane is one that I like. Mattie doesn't do the things that Kevin does but he is tidy and intelligent and for a game like this he has more experience in the position.

I like the fact that he can read the game well, knows when to go and knows when to stop and he'll often score the odd important goal for you.

That might be important. I have to admit that up front I'm just not too sure about Clinton Morrison. He has great energy. I love his cockiness. I just don't know about Clinton and international football. I don't know if he is comfortable enough on the ball at that level.

Sometimes I look at Clinton in international games and he survives on the raw energy and confidence.

It doesn't get him far enough. He gets found out a little. I don't know if you can get away with just energy and enthusiasm.

Maybe this is the sort of game that needs something different. Stephen Elliot is an option but again he's the same build and style as Robbie Keane. You just take it for granted that Robbie will start.

Here's a long shot. What about Gary Doherty? I'd have no qualms about putting him up there, at least for a period of the game.

I know what I said about Clinton, and raw energy is something you might just as easily say about Gary but on nights like tonight you do sometimes need an out for lads at the back.

It's a throwback to Jack's day, maybe. If a defender doesn't see something at midfield, chipping the ball into a big lad works.

In Israel tonight we're going to have to shift people at the back. We'll have to be in there making our presence felt.

Gary would be a good option. The way we used to play it, with the ball going up early, we always needed Frank Stapleton or Tony Cascarino or Niall Quinn.

We've changed our style but it would be useful to have that option again of just throwing in the sort of forward they won't be so used to playing against.

I know as an old centre-half what Clinton would bring to the game. Clinton would chase me down and hassle and harry me on the ball, I know that. Gary has more raw battle in him.

The Israelis need to be a little upset. They need to be looking at Gary doing his stuff and worrying that Robbie will pick up little bits and pieces off him. On the other hand two nippy players moving around and hassling them? They get that week in, week out.

I don't think Brian will see it that way, though. Even on a night when he is going to be adventurous I imagine he would like to stick with the familiar in the line-up. That's probably why he's the manager and I'm not.