As much as he speaks about his frustration with this just now, Steve Clark might be quietly pleased that Arsenal have prevented Kieran Tierney from being called up to the next Scotland squad.
These games against Kazakhstan and Cyprus are dead rubbers and about as pointless as they come, but Clark might use them as a chance to build a team for the Nation’s League qualifier next year.
One huge anomaly in the Scotland team has been Andy Robertson. He’s outstanding for Liverpool, but looks scared and totally inept when he plays for Scotland. If Tierney got a chance and played well, then there would be a lot of calls for him to start the next important game.
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It might be the most Scotland thing ever that we have two outstanding players who both play at left-back. There’s been attempts to fit both into a formation but it hasn’t worked so far.
The BBC reported on some of Stevie Clark’s comments after he was forced to leave Tierney out of the squad. Clark said: “Arsenal asked us not to select him. It’s a little bit frustrating. It’s obviously frustrating for Kieran as well, but we’ve got good cover in that position.”
His place in the squad has been taken by Greg Taylor, who played under Clark at Kilmarnock and moved to Celtic to replace Tierney. Unfortunately the form of Boli Bolingoli has limited Taylor to one appearance this season.
Tierney has looked impressive for Arsenal since returning from injury and could’ve offered something fresh to the team after years of insipid performances. Clark might start to find himself under pressure if he doesn’t win these two games after total collapses against Belgium and Russia.
It does look like Robertson is made to look good by Liverpool’s system and there’s plenty of fans that think Tierney might be every bit as good as the former Dundee United and Hull City man.
Unfortunately we won’t get a chance to see how much Tierney has improved since leaving Celtic in the upcoming games.