Kieran Tierney has developed into the best retractable centre-back in the world, says Steve Clarke. The Scotland head coach turned Arsenal’s left-back into the national team due to the presence of Andy Robertson, Liverpool’s acclaimed left-back. “I had to find a way to sell it to Kieran, but it works,” Clarke says in the High Performance Podcast†
The two best players from the relatively small football country of Scotland appear to play exactly in the same position and that presented Clarke with a problem. Tierney plays almost exclusively as a left-back at Arsenal, but it would be a shame not to be able to field him or Robertson, Clarke said. “At that time we were playing with two centre-backs, I had never played with three in my career,” the selector introduces his story.
“We were not good defensively and I was dealing with two of the best left backs in the world at the same time,” said the national coach. “At the time I didn’t think the options in the back center were great so I thought let’s play with three in the back and see if that makes it better. I had a really good chat with Tierney to tell him he would be the best left central defender. be what Scotland ever had.”
In Scotland there were already doubts about Tierney’s playing with Robertson. “There was a myth around Kieran that he didn’t want to join the national team, which was not correct,” Clarke said. “But I think he always felt like he was a better left-back than Andy Robertson. Every player thinks they’re better than the direct competition and when you compare they don’t give an inch.”
So Clarke figured out a way to convince Tierney to switch position. “I had to convince him that he was better than Andy and that’s why I chose him as left central defender. That’s probably not quite true, but that’s how I had to sell it to Kieran. “I told him I love him and that I wanted that he would play there. Now we have the best retractable centre-back in world football. It works.” Scotland will try to reach the World Cup via the play-offs in March. For that, you must first settle with Wales and then with the winner of the Ukraine – Austria game.