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Kieran Tierney's lack of commitment towards Scotland


The_Dark_Knight

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I'm aware that this thread is going to cause outrage, I mean, "How dare he criticize one of our best players!!", I hear people say, and yet players like Stephen O'Donnell and Oliver Burke regularly receive pelters on here, without much or any resistance. Apparently the better the football you are, the more immune you are to (justified) criticism and the more you can get away with.

Tierney made his debut on April '16, coincidently the same time as Oliver Burke made his Scotland debut. I think 100% of the people here would agree that Tierney is the more competent footballer. He's seen as a shining light for Scotland and a beacon for the future, whereas Oliver Burke is seen a figure of fun. He's seen a big lump of a boy who couldn't really give much of an effort for anything, especially football.

Both Burke and Tierney made their Scotland debuts at the exact same time. Tierney has racked up 170 club appearances, meanwhile, Burke has 84 club appearances under his belt. (Blame Wiki if those numbers are wrong) Tierney has pretty much been the first choice left back since he broke through the ranks at Celtic and as for Burke, he's been a bench-warmer for every club he's been with. And yet there's only four Scotland caps separating them. So, either Burke is mad patriotic about Scotland or Tierney would rather scream into a megaphone in front of a jumping, flee infested Green brigade, than represent Scotland.

Scott McTominay has only been a part of the Scotland set-up for a year. In the next couple of months McTominay will have played more matches for Scotland in one year than Tierney has in three (mostly injury free years). Even Oliver McBurnie will have played as many matches for Scotland as Tierney has in three years, in the next couple of months.

I don't expect many (if any) people to criticize Tierney because as I said, the better you are, the more immune to criticism you become... at least in this place. I'd wager good money that I'm criticized in this thread more than Tierney is.

I have no agenda. I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm just stating plain facts and it's an issue that Steve Clarke has to address.

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I mean he's been unavailable legitimately through injury. I feel Celtic were quite irresponsible how they tried to get as many minutes out of him when he was clearly injured last season. That said I don't remember him being not legitimately unavailable except maybe for the Peru/Mexico friendlies which pretty much all of our 1st choice players pulled out of. Not to mention he shares a position with our captain and genuine best player (hope that doesn't cause any arguments).

I think the rant is a bit harsh. Especially since he dug us out of a hole towards the tail end of the World Cup campaign filling in at Right Back.

With reference to Burke his pace is tremendous but I find him a poor footballer with superhuman athletic abilities. I feel he featured recently as he was in form for Celtic and we had no other available strikers who could hit a cows arse with a banjo in front of goal. Going forward I'd like to see him as a roll-the-dice substitute going forward if we are desperate for a goal

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56 minutes ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

I'm aware that this thread is going to cause outrage, I mean, "How dare he criticize one of our best players!!", I hear people say, and yet players like Stephen O'Donnell and Oliver Burke regularly receive pelters on here, without much or any resistance. Apparently the better the football you are, the more immune you are to (justified) criticism and the more you can get away with.

Tierney made his debut on April '16, coincidently the same time as Oliver Burke made his Scotland debut. I think 100% of the people here would agree that Tierney is the more competent footballer. He's seen as a shining light for Scotland and a beacon for the future, whereas Oliver Burke is seen a figure of fun. He's seen a big lump of a boy who couldn't really give much of an effort for anything, especially football.

Both Burke and Tierney made their Scotland debuts at the exact same time. Tierney has racked up 170 club appearances, meanwhile, Burke has 84 club appearances under his belt. (Blame Wiki if those numbers are wrong) Tierney has pretty much been the first choice left back since he broke through the ranks at Celtic and as for Burke, he's been a bench-warmer for every club he's been with. And yet there's only four Scotland caps separating them. So, either Burke is mad patriotic about Scotland or Tierney would rather scream into a megaphone in front of a jumping, flee infested Green brigade, than represent Scotland.

Scott McTominay has only been a part of the Scotland set-up for a year. In the next couple of months McTominay will have played more matches for Scotland in one year than Tierney has in three (mostly injury free years). Even Oliver McBurnie will have played as many matches for Scotland as Tierney has in three years, in the next couple of months.

I don't expect many (if any) people to criticize Tierney because as I said, the better you are, the more immune to criticism you become... at least in this place. I'd wager good money that I'm criticized in this thread more than Tierney is.

I have no agenda. I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm just stating plain facts and it's an issue that Steve Clarke has to address.

I cant deny his lack of commitment has annoyed me, possibly its more his lack of commitment to Scotland compared to celtic, however i can see his attitude towards the national team changing now that he is out the gold fish bowl and away from the green brigade 

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Tierney has had injuries and he competes with our best player for a position in the team. 

Tierney wont be the only player to see scotland as an after thought. I've no proof he is not committed to scotland, I've suspected it of many players before but we will never be able to prove it. 

I used to think the same of james forrest till he finally started to turn up in a scotland shirt.

 

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Has been carrying injuries for a while. Celtic haven't helped in that.Celtic have a habit of pulling players out of what they deem as meaningless friendlies. He's up against Robertson for the LB position.That should just about cover it.

Stirring the pot is exactly what you're trying to do. In another thread you mentioned the fact that Tierney doesn't have any Scotland photos on his Instagram so thus looks like he plays for Ireland, or some nonsense similar to that.

Edited by Tartan_McCole
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It does annoy me a tad at times that he does not show the same desire and passion playing for Scotland that he does for Celtic, but he is far from the first and most certainly not going to be the last this applies to (regardless if playing for Celtic or not)....... but saying that, he has been carrying a injury/putting off a operation since the turn of the year, and said operation to fix it has kept him out of football the whole summer, so can be excused.

Also, did he not play against England with a broken jaw that he had picked up in the Scottish Cup final a week beforehand? 

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1 hour ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

I'm aware that this thread is going to cause outrage, I mean, "How dare he criticize one of our best players!!", I hear people say, and yet players like Stephen O'Donnell and Oliver Burke regularly receive pelters on here, without much or any resistance. Apparently the better the football you are, the more immune you are to (justified) criticism and the more you can get away with.

Tierney made his debut on April '16, coincidently the same time as Oliver Burke made his Scotland debut. I think 100% of the people here would agree that Tierney is the more competent footballer. He's seen as a shining light for Scotland and a beacon for the future, whereas Oliver Burke is seen a figure of fun. He's seen a big lump of a boy who couldn't really give much of an effort for anything, especially football.

Both Burke and Tierney made their Scotland debuts at the exact same time. Tierney has racked up 170 club appearances, meanwhile, Burke has 84 club appearances under his belt. (Blame Wiki if those numbers are wrong) Tierney has pretty much been the first choice left back since he broke through the ranks at Celtic and as for Burke, he's been a bench-warmer for every club he's been with. And yet there's only four Scotland caps separating them. So, either Burke is mad patriotic about Scotland or Tierney would rather scream into a megaphone in front of a jumping, flee infested Green brigade, than represent Scotland.

Scott McTominay has only been a part of the Scotland set-up for a year. In the next couple of months McTominay will have played more matches for Scotland in one year than Tierney has in three (mostly injury free years). Even Oliver McBurnie will have played as many matches for Scotland as Tierney has in three years, in the next couple of months.

I don't expect many (if any) people to criticize Tierney because as I said, the better you are, the more immune to criticism you become... at least in this place. I'd wager good money that I'm criticized in this thread more than Tierney is.

I have no agenda. I'm not trying to stir the pot. I'm just stating plain facts and it's an issue that Steve Clarke has to address.

Mate, your cutlery drawer consists entirely of wooden spoons.

That said, it has appeared at points to see Tierney has been more committed to Celtic than Scotland, but there are bunch of factors to consider before questioning his commitment to the national team (most have already been pointed out by others😞

1) He's been injured a lot.
2) Celtic pay his wages and have a lot of leverage over his actions.
3) He's fighting for a place in the team against our best player of the century so far.
4) Celtic has been a lot more fun place for a player than the Scotland team for the last few years.
 

Despite all of this he's never once intimated that he is not committed to Scotland, and had quietly gone about his business when asked to play out of position, and gladly and proudly accepted the captaincy too.

 

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Oops. Thanks for the head's up. "Flea infested Green Brigade". ;)

Tierney's last appearance for Scotland was 10 months ago. He's missed the previous seven Scotland matches. Is anyone trying to tell me that he's been injured for 10 months? How many Celtic appearances has he made in that time? For Celtic (and now with Arsenal) he's an Iron Man, but for Scotland he's a Paper Man.

He's 22 years old, played almost 200 club matches in that time. The lad is hardly injury prone. His only real injury came in the past few months.

And I really don't understand when people say "His club pays his wages and have leverage over his actions". Every single club pays the wages of every single professional player, and yet player x still turns up for their country. Darren Fletcher played for a far bigger club than Celtic, didn't stop him from making 80 appearances (would've been 100+ if it wasn't for his illness) and playing through illness.

We have four players that I rate. We need all four of them to show commitment and drive the team forward. Robertson and McTominay are committed to the cause, there's been question marks over Fraser and there's definitely question marks over Tierney. 

Truth is, all of the other players are average. We need those four players to show leadership and show the fans that they care about representing Scotland. We need four of those players to carry the rest of the Scotland players.

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5 hours ago, Orraloon said:

It should never be forgotten that our captain pulled out of a crucial qualifier because he had toothache.

There are a lot of players who are not as committed to playing for Scotland as they could be.

Robertson? I remember. 

Look at the Welsh situation. Giggs picked and chose when he played, whereas Bale always turns up. It's no coincidence that Bale's Wales qualified for a tournaments and Giggs's Wales didn't.

We simply aren't good enough for our main players not to give it their all.

4 hours ago, N4Footsoldier said:

I think the main take away is that some of the abuse certain players get in isolated situations is beyond harsh.

When a player (McTominay) is about to overtake the caps haul that Tierney took triple the time to collect, it's time to ask if the boy is committed or not.

I say not.

 

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16 hours ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

Oops. Thanks for the head's up. "Flea infested Green Brigade". ;)

Tierney's last appearance for Scotland was 10 months ago. He's missed the previous seven Scotland matches. Is anyone trying to tell me that he's been injured for 10 months? How many Celtic appearances has he made in that time? For Celtic (and now with Arsenal) he's an Iron Man, but for Scotland he's a Paper Man.

He missed a hell of a lot of Celtic games in the past 10 months.

Old Firm games, European games, Cup Finals, the lot.

If anything, I'd blame Celtic for over playing him the past 3 years.

 

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9 hours ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

 

When a player (McTominay) is about to overtake the caps haul that Tierney took triple the time to collect, it's time to ask if the boy is committed or not.

I say not.

 

Or the fact he's injured a lot....I say injured a lot.

Just a heads up....he'll not be in the squad for the September qualifiers. As guess what? He's injured.

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I rate Tierney but too have doubts re his commitment. I know someone in the SFA party who told me his behaviour in Astana (or whatever its called) suggested he would rather be elsewhere.

Apparently he sat alone during the match not making any effort to speak with anyone.

Hopefully this can be put down to the negativity in the camp under McLeish and that his attitude will change now we have Clarke at the helm and he is playing in the south.

On a slightly different note one of the most ludicrous headlines I saw was earlier this week when one sportswriter had a headline saying Scotland had a great future with players at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to choose from.

Tierney has yet to kick a ball for Arsenal and McTominay is a bit part player at best. Robertson has however proved himself at the highest level.

Edited by Catchart Circle
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1 hour ago, Catchart Circle said:

I rate Tierney but too have doubts re his commitment. I know someone in the SFA party who told me his behaviour in Astana (or whatever its called) suggested he would rather be elsewhere.

Apparently he sat alone during the match not making any effort to speak with anyone.

Hopefully this can be put down to the negativity in the camp under McLeish and that his attitude will change now we have Clarke at the helm and he is playing in the south.

On a slightly different note one of the most ludicrous headlines I saw was earlier this week when one sportswriter had a headline saying Scotland had a great future with players at Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to choose from.

Tierney has yet to kick a ball for Arsenal and McTominay is a bit part player at best. Robertson has however proved himself at the highest level.

“McTominay is a bit part player at best”. Where have you been?

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2 hours ago, Catchart Circle said:

I rate Tierney but too have doubts re his commitment. I know someone in the SFA party who told me his behaviour in Astana (or whatever its called) suggested he would rather be elsewhere.

Apparently he sat alone during the match not making any effort to speak with anyone.

Oh really? That's interesting.

It doesn't really surprise me, though. Usually it's pretty clear whether or not a player is committed. Tierney's clocked up almost 200 games for Celtic and yet his cap total for Scotland is a joke. If you were an outsider and you looked at his caps he's won for Scotland you'd think that he was a squad player for Celtic.

He has an infinite with the Green brigade, and wasn't born here, so I just think he's not a deep affinity for Scotland. I'm not sure you can use birthplace that as an excuse, though, as McTominay frequency travelled with the squad, even knowing that he'll be on the bench. Hell, even Burke has shown a lot of commitment, at under 21 level he always turned up... Also, he'll have played as many Scotland games as Tierney if he's involved in the next four matches.

I disagree with you about McTominay, though. He's one of the first names on the Manchester United team sheet.

 

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1 hour ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

Oh really? That's interesting.

It doesn't really surprise me, though. Usually it's pretty clear whether or not a player is committed. Tierney's clocked up almost 200 games for Celtic and yet his cap total for Scotland is a joke. If you were an outsider and you looked at his caps he's won for Scotland you'd think that he was a squad player for Celtic.

He has an infinite with the Green brigade, and wasn't born here, so I just think he's not a deep affinity for Scotland. I'm not sure you can use birthplace that as an excuse, though, as McTominay frequency travelled with the squad, even knowing that he'll be on the bench. Hell, even Burke has shown a lot of commitment, at under 21 level he always turned up... Also, he'll have played as many Scotland games as Tierney if he's involved in the next four matches.

I disagree with you about McTominay, though. He's one of the first names on the Manchester United team sheet.

 

It's a good thing that Tierney is away from the Green Brigade and the pseudo-Irish bubble that is prevalent in certain parts of Glasgow.

In London he'll be treated as a Scot by teammates and everyone he comes into contact with. I expect him to feel a lot more affinity with Scotland as a result.

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21 minutes ago, Dave78 said:

It's a good thing that Tierney is away from the Green Brigade and the pseudo-Irish bubble that is prevalent in certain parts of Glasgow.

In London he'll be treated as a Scot by teammates and everyone he comes into contact with. I expect him to feel a lot more affinity with Scotland as a result.

I really hope so.

Generally I have no axe to grind with the lad (However, I have a Thor sized axe to grind with the Old Firm) and would love for him to turn it around show as much patriotism as we do. People here might bicker and squabble, but that's because we care.

I might be alone on this, but until Tierney turns his attitude around, I won't be monitoring his progress, at all.

It would've been interesting if he were eligible to play for Rep Ireland. He might've been another Aiden McGeady.

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2 hours ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

I might be alone on this, but until Tierney turns his attitude around, I won't be monitoring his progress, at all.

Aye, you'll be alone on that.

C'mon man, of course you'll be watching to see how well a Scotland player does for one of England's top teams. 

2 hours ago, The_Dark_Knight said:

It would've been interesting if he were eligible to play for Rep Ireland. He might've been another Aiden McGeady.

Insignificant anecdote i know, but i remember watching Tierney start to make heads turn with his performances in the champions league on RTE (Irish state broadcaster), years ago.

The commentators always made a point of mentioning his Isle of Man birthplace. It was then i first suspected that 'Irish eyes are smiling watching'.

 

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