TIERNEY IS CELTIC’S... EXOCET MISSILE
McGhee: He walks in like a wee boy with his rucksack, but don’t be fooled...
GORDON STRACHAN turned Kieran Tierney from left-back into a right-back to great World Cup effect for Scotland against Slovenia at Hampden in March. Behind the scenes, converting a mild-mannered minor into a missile was the transformation Mark McGhee loved watching as the Celtic star wasted no time finding his feet at senior level.
McGhee said: ‘You see him walking into the dining room and he’s like some wee boy who has just walked off the street, a wee boy with his little rucksack on. ‘And then you see him on the training ground. He turns up, no jumper, shirt sleeves in the snow and the sleet in his face. And he is not only a man, but an Exocet.’
That valuable weapon, PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year, has been attracting interest from major European clubs including Chelsea, Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
This is company where Tierney can comfortably fit in as McGhee notes that the full-back already has attributes in common with the very best defensive act on the continent’s elite scene.
However, the Scotland assistant manager hopes that it is Celtic and Brendan Rodgers who Tierney will be playing his Champions League football for next season.
‘Kieran absolutely bombs up the wing,’ said McGhee. ‘One of the things I really like is that he is a defender first and foremost. He loves a tackle, loves a challenge.
‘Modern defenders aren’t all like that. A lot of them want to prove how good a footballer they are before anything.
‘But I watched Juventus the other night. They have (Giorgio) Chiellini and (Gianluigi) Buffon high fiving after a block at the near post or heading the ball away. They get such pleasure in defending.
‘And the lad is like that as well. He doesn’t want his opponent to beat him, to get by him. He wants to block it, he wants to win the ball back for his team. He is terrific.
‘He’s a fantastic left-back and Celtic have such an exciting season ahead of them next year, I would really hope he’d be here for that.
‘Andy Robertson went down south and cruised it, really. I don’t think he’s any different but the chance they have is that Brendan has a hold of him at the moment.
‘I sense he has such belief in Brendan and what’s happening there. I would hope Brendan’s power, in the sense of his grip on him, would be good enough to keep him a bit longer.’
Tierney was one of six Celts to start the Slovenia win that kept Scotland alive in qualifying for Russia 2018. An ‘easy decision’, says McGhee, to go with so many champion players.
Callum McGregor has been touted as a candidate to make it seven winners from Parkhead suiting up back at the national stadium for the Auld Enemy clash on Saturday, June 10.
He might find the competition a little too stiff for now in the attacking midfield areas but McGhee admits he is knocking at the door again almost three years after his first call-up.
Celtic manager Rodgers has turned round the careers of James Forrest and Stuart Armstrong, too, in a team McGhee rates as highly as any Scottish title-winning group of recent years.
McGhee said: ‘I think Celtic should be winning the Treble every year. But the style in which they’re doing it, the quality they’ve shown, the organisation, everything, is top drawer.
‘Gordon and I had this conversation about how they would do in England, in the Premier League, and they would compete. I am sure about that.
‘I think that they’re fitter — and that’s not a cheap shot at previous management. The lads themselves have risen to the challenge Brendan set, how he wants to play and to train.
‘Whatever he said to them, they’re energised. All brimming with confidence and energy.
‘James Forrest always looked as if he was playing within himself, injuring himself, looking like someone whose hamstring was going to go at any minute. Suddenly he has blossomed and is now playing with all the potential we knew he had. Stuart Armstrong is another.
‘He went there in a fanfare of “here is a great young Scottish player” but kind of lost his way a wee bit. Finding his position in the middle of the park has obviously brought him back.
‘I have always liked Callum McGregor — a terrific footballer and now in a team which allows him to play the way he wants to.
‘Brendan has played players in their best positions and he has played to their strengths.
‘And it is not just about them playing against lesser Scottish teams. I would imagine they will mount as good a challenge in Europe next season as they’ve done for some time.’
Aberdeen, without a Scottish Cup Final success since 1990, stand between those Celtic stars and the Treble on Saturday, May 27.
McGhee is backing Derek McInnes and new Scotland coach Tony Docherty to trouble Celtic to a far greater degree than the Dons managed in November’s Hampden no-show.
‘There is only one team in Scotland that have any chance of stopping them and it’s Aberdeen,’ said McGhee. ‘The cup final is not a foregone conclusion.
‘Aberdeen will be ready in a way that they weren’t for the League Cup Final. Even the way they’ve developed in terms of the results, they’ll feel better about themselves by now.
‘They have to be organised, choose their shape very carefully to give themselves a chance of getting close to the Celtic players and to stop Celtic from playing.
‘They have to be aggressive and stand up to Celtic, come out looking as if they are here to win the game — and not just for damage limitation.
‘I don’t mean kicking, flying into people but they have to be aggressive with the ball, with their running, be determined on set plays for and against and show aggression defending.
‘All of that combined and then their matchwinners — Jonny Hayes, Niall McGinn, Adam Rooney or Kenny McLean — could pop up with something special on the day.’
MARK McGHEE was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.