Tierney 'experiment' didn't work, say former Scotland players

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Scotland's Kieran Tierney (right) had a difficult hour against Morocco [PA Media]

Former Scotland players Neil McCann and Leanne Crichton feel Kieran Tierney was put in an unfair position in the World Cup defeat by Morocco.

Tierney, usually a left-back at Celtic and left centre-back as part of a three for Scotland, was pitched into a left midfield role, seemingly to combat Morocco captain and right-back Achraf Hakimi.

"I don't think the Kieran Tierney experiment worked," 26-times capped McCann told BBC Sportsound.

"I felt at times a wee bit sorry for him. It hindered us. We'd no ability to get out and hurt them.

"The tactical plan by using Tierney to mark Hakimi didn't work at all. I felt that would be the wrong thing to do, that following job because it would disrupt us a wee bit."

And Crichton, who won 72 caps and featured at two major tournament finals, added: "How do you replicate in training chasing one of the opposition about the pitch? I think it's impossible to replicate that. It becomes really unnatural. For Tierney, how has he been able to be prepped to really play against that?"

Tierney made way after an hour, with winger Ben Gannon-Doak introduced. Gannon-Doak played 75 minutes of the opening group win against Haiti.

"Ben Gannon-Doak quite clearly didn't start the game yesterday based on fitness and output," said Rangers women head coach Crichton. "I don't think Steve Clarke thought he had 90 minutes in him. He only had 60 minutes.

"What Ben Gannon-Doak needs to do now over his career is get himself to a level that he can play consistently and that you can always have your best players available for 90-plus minutes because tournament football needs that.

"He made such a difference when he came on."

Kilmarnock manager McCann had Findlay Curtis on loan from Rangers in the second half of last season and said of the Scotland winger, who did not feature against Morocco after a brief substitute appearance in the 1-0 defeat of Haiti: "He always does something in a game.

"He'll get a cross in, he'll get into a dangerous area, he'll put someone on the back foot, he'll get a corner. How many corners did we get last night? It was one."

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