Reds’ hunt for success will bring best out of Robertson
AS the manager of Middlesbrough, Gordon Strachan famously tried to import the winning mentality of Old Firm players en masse to the Riverside.
Scott McDonald, Barry Robson and Stephen McManus signed up from the green corner of Glasgow. Kevin thomson and Kris Boyd moved south from the blue half.
the experiment proved to be short-lived and ultimately flawed, but failed to dissuade Strachan from the view that the cast-iron mentality of players at certain clubs is an asset to be cherished.
In his 15 appearances for Scotland to date, Andrew Robertson has shown next to no signs of weakness. Vying with Kieran tierney for the title of the best left-back of their generation, the man who moved from hull City to Liverpool for an initial £8million is seemingly on a trajectory that knows no bounds.
But while Strachan was often at a loss to express his admiration for the one-time Queen’s Park kid as he took an initial transfer from Dundee United to humberside in his stride, the Scotland manager speaks with certainty as to what becoming a part of the Anfield machine will do for the 23-year-old (below).
‘there are clubs you go to where there are no real expectations on you,’ said Strachan. ‘You go, you sign, you turn up, you play and you see how it goes. But when you are talking about teams like Liverpool, you go and you must win.
‘he has gone to a place with a must-win mentality now. I am sure he will enjoy that pressure. he has been asked questions all through his life and he has answered them. It is character-building what he has been through.’
First impressions tend to stick. On Saturday, Robertson’s Liverpool debut became burned in the psyche of the Kop.
Showing the same fearlessness and energy he’d demonstrated at some of Scottish football’s outposts a few seasons ago, he delivered a man-ofthe-match display to help down Crystal Palace. For seasoned Robertson watchers, it was not surprising.
‘We are delighted for him,’ added Strachan. ‘the first time I clapped eyes on him was for Dundee United. I thought: “I like him”.
‘We saw him in the Under-21s a couple of months later and we thought: “Get him up”. We were short of a body, so we brought him up to the full squad. Within half an hour, we thought: “he can be a player”.
‘his first touch (on his debut) against Poland, he picked it up on the halfway line and battered it 25 yards in front of him. I thought: “hello, here we go”. You get to the stage where it all goes right, then he hit a plateau for a while, now he is progressing again.’
For those who know of Robertson’s rise, talk of him hitting a plateau may seem odd. Strachan means it as only a compliment, though. ‘there was a plateau at hull when he first got there,’ he explained. ‘he dealt with that, because it is physically different to what it is in the Scottish Premiership. When you look at the physicality of Spurs and Chelsea yesterday and then look at Man United. It is huge.’ At 5ft 10in, Robertson may occasionally feel he’s in the Land of the Giants when defending set-pieces. In the absence of the invention of the human growing bag, he can’t do much about it. ensuring he is at his best is a matter of personal pride and overrides any concerns anyone might harbour as to his all-round package. ‘he has no fear going forward,’ said Strachan. ‘he has worked on his fitness to allow him to make these runs that other full-backs won’t because it is quite far forward to get back. It is amazing the number of full-backs who run forward and then jog back.’