Previous Socceroo coach Pim Verbeek was a passionate believer in the 4-2-3-1 version of the Dutch inspired 4-3-3 way of setting up. But Osieck said that those days are over. 

He said the Socceroos should be flexible enough to play different ways depending on the situation.

“First and foremost it’s the players who make the system," he said. "I want to have a look at the quality of the players and the capacity of each of them. And from there we go.

“I’m not the kind of coach that comes and says, ‘well, I have the ultimate system’. That is impossible in football. And when you consider the big nations in the World Cup how often they adjust their systems.

“I don’t  think it’s a fixed one, it’s always a flexible one.”

This will music to the ears of players such as Scott McDonald who suffered as a result of the one-striker formation under Verbeek. 

And Osieck hinted that players such as Nicky Carle might be in with a shot under his stewardship of the Socceroos.

He expanded on the issue of systems and responded to questions about whether he was an attacking coach by nature or a defensive one by saying: “You cannot put the entire game into being defensive or attacking.

"It depends on the situation, the players available for a particular game and the opponent of course. My philosophy still is, the game must be based on a certain structure. 

"Everybody knows what to do. And based on this basic structure which everybody has to follow, then there is a freedom of expression.”

He added: “When you have players with individual spark to your team, can win you games, then you are on top.

"Based on what I said there is always a common structure the players have to follow but on top of that is freedom of expression.”