McLeish may face axe call over star duo

GARY NAYSMITH has warned Alex McLeish that he may have to jettison either Kieran Tierney or Andrew Robertson from his starting line-up if his attempts to shoehorn the two left-backs into the same team doesn’t work. It’s a conundrum that has become the national team manager’s biggest selection headache to date — and former Scotland full-back Naysmith believes his best option against Albania on Saturday would be to play Liverpool’s Robertson in his natural position and slot Celtic’s Tierney in at right-back. If that solution fails to spark, however, then Queen of the South boss Naysmith fears McLeish will be left with the tough decision of dropping one of his two star men for the common good in future. ‘Alex will know that, if you are playing three at the back with Kieran in central defence and Andrew in a wing-back role and it hasn’t worked, then you need to try something else,’ said the ex-Hearts and Everton defender, who won 46 caps for his country. ‘If Kieran is asked to play at right-back, as he has a couple of times in the past under Gordon Strachan, he will do it. But that’s a different question to: “Does Kieran want to play right-back?” ‘I can understand Alex’s thinking as he’ll be desperate to get both Kieran and Andrew into the team. ‘But there’s a negative with three at the back as neither of them are playing in their natural position as they are not left centre-backs or left-wing backs. ‘If you pick one of them and play with four in defence, then at least you have one in their natural position of left-back. ‘If you play one at right-back and that also doesn’t work then he has to start thinking that you can’t play both. ‘They are two of Scotland’s best players. However, they may not make it into the best team if a system can’t be found.’ Naysmith, now 39, would gladly have swapped wings in a dark-blue jersey if required. ‘I would have done it, no doubt, because it’s for your country,’ he said. ‘I played right-back twice when I was at Everton and I was not as comfortable as I’m naturally left-footed, but you just do it. ‘I started one game there, so I was prepared for it, and in the other injuries saw us end up with four left-footed players in defence with David Unsworth, Alessandro Pistone and Kevin Kilbane. Sometimes needs must and you just get on with it.’