Anyone who has watched the Arsenal fly-on-the-wall job on Amazon Prime will know Kieran Tierney can be a man of few words but the ones he does use tend to hit the mark. Magic, was how he described the winning formula concocted by Scotland boss Steve Clarke for Wednesday night’s thrilling 3-0 dismantling of Ukraine. Chemistry might be another word though.
We don’t know if Tierney is a fan of Breaking Bad on Netflix but teacher turned-crystal-meth-cook Walter White said chemistry IS magic, and we got to see proof at Hampden the other night. Gordon Strachan, Alex McLeish and Clarke have all tried to work out the perfect equation for fitting the Gunners ace into the Scotland side alongside world class captain and Liverpool Andy Robertson, when the pair of them occupy similar roles for their clubs.
The current gaffer has found one that works better than most, with Tierney operating on the left side of three centre backs in a position that was pretty much created for him. There’s not many underlapping and overlapping centre backs in world football but it’s done the business under Clarke in recent times.
But there was something special about seeing Tierney back in his natural habitat against Ukraine the other night – playing left back for Scotland for the first time in six years. Incredibly, KT has only played there twice in his 33 caps for the country – and that was in his first two appearances back in 2016.
It was like pulling on a pair of old slippers for the former Celtic star and his performance might reopen the headache for Clarke when Robertson returns. Tierney – who helped tee up John McGinn for the crucial opener against Ukraine – was just thrilled to be on the park as usual and delighted the chemistry was just right.
When told it has been six long years since his last left back duties, he said: “I know! I’m happy. I look forward to the roles I play here, even if it’s in a back five. I really do like that (central) role and it works well. We’ve had some really good results and we qualified for the Euros playing that way.
“It’s something I enjoy. Playing left back is great as well. It’s a different left back to Arsenal, where I’m maybe higher up the pitch. But I really enjoyed it out there the other night. In the first few presses in the opening minutes it was a case of us thinking we needed to get to grips with it. We got there. We pressed them in good areas, won the ball in good positions and created plenty of chances. It worked on the night.”
Now there’s an understatement. Ukraine’s main threat came from the wide areas but apart from the first couple of minutes and a short spell before half-time, they didn’t get a sniff against Scotland. It was just what the nation needed after a miserable summer when Ukraine ended our World Cup hopes and the Republic of Ireland piled on the agony with a drubbing in Dublin.
Scotland need just two draws to top Nations League Group B1, secure a play-off place for Euro 2024, second pot seeding for the qualifiers and promotion to the top band of teams in the next instalment of the wacky Nations League format. Tierney said: “It was a good win and a good performance. I think that’s what we needed and the fans needed.
“It gives us confidence going in to the last two games. It’s going to be tough with three games in such a short space of time, but we’ve got a lot of quality in the squad and we’ll look forward to it.
“The plan is to play like that again. We want to play good football and that was one of the best Scotland performances in a while. We’ve had some good results in the past but performance-wise that was right up there against a team that beat us 3-1 not so long ago.”
There was a maturity about Scotland on Wednesday. The side missed so many sitters there were fears they could have played until the clocks went back and still be out there searching for the back of the net. But the pressure – and patience – paid off.
Tierney said: “There’s no point in panicking. We know with our build-up play we are going to create chances. We do a lot of work on set pieces as well and we know no matter we can be dangerous no matter what time we get them.
“We showed that the other night. We need to keep pushing and try to go as far as we can. We showed we are all buying into what the manager is doing. He showed everything, the team meetings, the tactical stuff, it was all magic on the night.”
And now it’s on to Ireland at Hampden tomorrow night. Recovering from surgery, Tierney had to suffer on the sofa during the 3-0 sore one in the summer but it’s pay back time in Mount Florida this weekend.
He said: “I was just so gutted in the summer I couldn’t be there. You know the boys want to win everything. It was disappointing after the Ukraine game but you were wanting to bounce back with a good result.
“I think you learn from that though, 100 percent, and become a better team. You don’t want that feeling, to feel down and for people to be on you.
“You use it as motivation to come back, to please the manager and play like you know you can – and give the fans something to cheer about.”
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