AND KT CAN BEAT KING KENNY’S 102 CAPS SCOTLAND RECORD TOO!

BRENDAN RODGERS chatted today about Kieran Tierney after the 20 year old Celtic left picked up his first ever Player of the Month Award. During the international break Malky Mackay, the caretaker Scotland boss, made KT his captain for the game at Pittodrie against Netherlands, in what might turn out to be his only game in charge.

Mackay also predicted that Tierney could break Kenny Dalglish’s record of 102 cps for Scotland.

CQN has just suggested that Billy McNeill’s Celtic appearance record is catchable too for the hottest young defender at Celtic since the emergence of Danny McGrain. Read that HERE.

Curiously Gordon Strachan choose to play him at right back, in a throw-back to Danny McGrain getting moved over to the other side of the park to accommodate Sandy Jardine.

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One rule that Brendan Rodgers uses though is to try to play players in their correct position. Sometimes needs must and we end up with Nir Bitton in central defence but that’s another story! Today Brendan was emphatic on where KT should be deployed.

“His best position is left-back and if he plays left-back for Scotland then that’s where they will gain the maximum out of a super-talented young player,” the manager of the Invincibles said.

“He has that adaptability to play in different positions. We play a number of different systems here. He has played as a left-sided centre-half, left side of a three, but you see his threat when he plays as a full-back or a wide player in a 3-4-3, how effective he is.

“He is blessed with a wonderful temperament as a young player. He is getting better, stronger and working on areas of his game that he knows needs improving.

“He is one of those players that he will play wherever the manager wants him to play.

“But for Scotland to get the very best out of him, then he is better suited to that one where he can push forward and create and score goals.”

Referring to Mackay’s decision to make Kieran captain of the national sider and his prediction that the young Celt could reach a ton-up in Scotland caps, Brendan said: “It typifies his growth and development that at 20 years of age, how he handled the captaincy.

“I have seen him mature as a young man in the 17 months I have been here, he is a wonderful ambassador for Scottish football and he could be around for many years.

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“So his first goal I am sure will be 50 caps, that’s the goal for a lot of international players and see where they go from there.

“If he stays injury-free and his availability is there… I think Kenny (Dalglish, 102) is the only one with over 100 caps so there is a long way to go for him but he has a big future ahead.”

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