What steps does Kieran Tierney take in order to safeguard his career? He must decide whether to remain at Arsenal and compete for a position in Arteta’s starting lineup, or to move on and join a team like Newcastle, where he can establish himself as the top left back.
At Arsenal, it is evident that Oleksander Zinchenko has cemented himself as Arteta’s left back, demoting Tierney to the sidelines. It is not inevitable that Tierney will no longer be useful to Arsenal; instead, he still has the opportunity to reclaim his position as Arteta’s first choice right back with some persistence and considerable work.
Kenny Dalgish still believes his fellow countryman has a bright future at Arsenal and has advised him to fight not only to get back as Arsenal’s left back, but to just get a slot in Arteta’s starting lineup in any other position he feels he can also play. “Tierney has shown he can play where he is needed for Scotland, and now he has a similar challenge with his club,” said the ex-Liverpool legend on the Sunday Post.
“Take the challenge up and see if he can get back in at left-back. If he can’t get a place there, then he has to see if he can knock someone out further forward—on the left of midfield, or wherever there is an opportunity.”
Remember I asked you what Tierney does with his future at the beginning? Well, personally, I hope he stays. The Scottish international is one of the quality players that Arteta shouldn’t easily let go, as he may only end up regretting doing so.
Zinchenko has impressed whenever playing at left back, and that’s fine, but just as Dalgish says Tierney needs to consider where else he can play, Arteta needs to also look at where else he can use him. Anyway, with Arsenal almost guaranteed a return to Champions League football, there may be ample room for a player with Tierney’s quality next season, as Dalgish admits when saying, “We have seen what Kieran can do in the minutes he has had for them, setting up a goal against Crystal Palace last week.”
Tierney is still top quality.
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This sounds like a fun and interesting way to spend some fun minutes in the interlull with no Arsenal game to watch!
I believe Tierney should stay and prove the Manager wrong. He should be up for a Scorpion fighting ; and March his way into the starting eleven.
Despite, next season we will be competing for a quadruple and we need players to content for them.
He got to stay.
Realistically, I don’t see Tierney getting back into the line-up in our current set-up. He is a fantastic traditional left-back, but the inverted role occupied by Zinchenko, that has been so popular this season with quite a few teams, doesn’t play into Tierney’s skill set. He isn’t going to dislodge Martinelli or Trossard on the leftwing and I think it would take Ben White and Tomi both being unavailable for him to get a chance at right back. The only real avenue for Tierney that I can see is if Arteta goes to a more formulaic back 3 where he can sit on the left side. He could absolutely do that role brilliantly as he is an excellent defender.
He’s been adapting to the inverted LB role. He’s also been playing as a left CB for Scotland, so the central role shouldn’t be difficult for him
He made an assist in our last EPL game, so he deserves to start against Leeds. He could also be our conventional LW in the last thirty minutes of the games, to make us more dangerous in counter-attacks
Tierney is one of our more saleable assets as the demand for quality natural left backs is high and very few top sides use the inverted system introduced by Pep and latched onto by MA.I cannot see him staying at Arsenal, as despite the porous defensive qualities of Zinchenko ,the Ukranian starts every match.I have to say he was bang average against England yesterday in a purely central midfield role but that has no bearing on his achievements for Arsenal this season.I suspect KT will almost certainly end up with Newcastle at a cost of around 30/35m.
I think tierney could still have a chance if arteta can move zinchenko to midfield and tierney can take occupy it LB back
Personally would like to see Zinchnko and Xhaka competing for the CM role, and Tierney as LB.
Tierney is a better defender than Zinchenko in LB.
As for the CM position, Zinchenko has more mobility than Xhaka, and a bit more creativity. In Xhaka’s defense, he has been a revelation this year, and has proven to be one of the most durable and fittest players in our squad.
For me I think Xhaka’s current position belongs to Zichenko. The position He currently play as inverted WB cum midfielder my not be sustainable in the long run. Again if its not broken don’t fix it. Tierney should slot in well too at that same slot when Xhaka is having a bad day in office.