KIERAN TIERNEY has been spared international duty this evening to help prevent him getting burned out before his time.
Sent back to his club last night, the Celtic defender – scorer of the own goal that gave Israel a shock Nations League win last Thursday – will play no part in the friendly against Portugal at Hampden.
But if it is a move which provides a neat – if temporary – solution to the nagging question of how to best fit Tierney and Andy Robertson into the same side, manager Alex McLeish insists it is a decision taken with altogether more altruistic motives.
“We do have players who have played a lot of games already this season,” he said.
“We were prepared to make a concession to Celtic in the summer over Kieran.
“He is a young guy growing up, and has played an enormous amount of games.
“I remember back to my Aberdeen days, with boys like Neale Cooper and Neil Simpson.
“They played a lot of games at an extremely young age, and they finished their careers relatively early.
“We don’t want that to happen to the current crop of players. That’s why Tierney is away back to his club again.”
To be fair, the statistics more than back up the move.
Thursday was the Celt’s 22nd game of the season in all competitions for club and country. In the last 15 months, he has been involved in 82 matches.
At the age of 21, he already has more than a century of appearances.
The news was part of a cluster of changes for the visit of the Ronaldo-less Portuguese.
In addition to Tierney, out go Robert Snodgrass, John Souttar and Charlie Mulgrew – the trio having failed to recover from a variety of minor injuries.
Brought into the squad are Aberdeen pair Mikey Devlin and Gary Mackay-Steven, plus Celtic’s Ryan Christie.
The upheaval might not be ideal, but McLeish is philosophical about the need to chop and change.
“In international football, that’s what happens,” he said. “Everyone has the same problems at times.
“We have unfortunately lost a couple, but we crack on.”
The eye-catching inclusion is that of Devlin, who missed all of last season with a knee injury but has done well enough this term at Aberdeen to earn his first-ever call up.
And with the national manager – who will start Craig Gordon in goal to give Allan McGregor a rest – giving serious consideration to playing a back four, the 25-year-old could well start in central defence alongside Aberdeen club-mate Scott McKenna.
“Mikey was on the fitness-for-duty list, along with a lot of others,” said McLeish.
“He’s fresh to the squad, so we welcome him and see how he fits in.
“Mikey has been doing well with Aberdeen, playing beside big Scott. You have to hand it to the guy. He had a bad injury but persevered and showed great determination.
“That’s one of our traits, and hopefully we see that coming to the fore against Portugal.
“We won’t make wholesale changes for the game, but we already know who we are without.
“There will need to be some changes, but we will apply common sense to the situation.
“We will field a team we feel can upset Portugal and not allow them to play like they want.”
Courage in the face of adversity is a trait the manager intends to display in his own role.
While onlookers speculate he should go if Scotland don’t win their Nations League group, he prefers to focus on the positive.
McLeish said: “I know my position will be speculated upon and be mooted in the papers, or by fans and on social media.
“But I’m pretty headstrong and determined to prove that I can always bounce back.
“It would be great to get a result against Portugal, and that would do wonders for confidence.
“Football can change – but we also know we have work to do.”
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe