Former Celt Kieran Tierney Endures Premier League Frustrations

Kieran Tierney has voiced his frustration over the lack of game time given to him by Mikel Arteta for Arsenal. Tierney has struggled with injury worries this year and to make matters worse for the former Celtic full-back, Olekasandr Zinchenko was signed from Manchester City to strengthen the left-back position.

However, the Ukrainian was ruled out of the selection for Arsenal’s weekend clash against Liverpool, which led many (including Tierney) to believe he would be starting the match. However, this wasn’t the case as Arteta had made plans to play right-back Takehiro Tomiyasu on the left-hand side instead. Arsenal went on to defeat Liverpool 3-2 and Arteta’s judgement seemed to have paid off for the Gunners.

Tierney made a brief appearance at the end of the match, but the ex-Celtic man was still frustrated with his lack of game time. He expressed his discontent to SkySports.

“Yeah of course, I was thinking (I was going to play). I got taken off in the Thursday night game and thought he was maybe keeping me for the Sunday. Maybe that at the time was his plan as well. The day before, he took me in and said, ‘It’s not on your performance, this is just the tactical change that I want to make’.

(Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

“I’m gutted, that’s all it is. I’m not going to be angry, I’m not going to try hard, I’m gutted because I want to play every opportunity I can. Especially in the big games, you want to play and soak in the atmosphere. There’s nothing I can say.

“We went out and won and Tomiyasu played amazing and the game plan worked. It just shows you, not many managers would probably think we’ll switch the right-back over here, but he did and it worked.”

13th February 2019, Lennoxtown Training Centre, Glasgow, Scotland; Celtic Training session ahead of their Europa League tie against Valencia; Kieran Tierney of Celtic is put through his paces after coming back from injury

Tierney also voiced his intention to reclaim his starting position in Arteta’s defensive line after a period where he’s been mostly on the bench.

“That’s the first meeting I’ve had in my life where I’ve been dropped. It’s new to me still. This season has been new to me.

“There was a spell last season for three or four games where I wasn’t playing, but since the start of the season, I’ve not really played. It is all new to me, I’m learning, and I’m dealing with it.

“It is tough, footballers want to play. I worked so hard to get back from injury. You just want to play as much as you can as soon as you are back, unfortunately, I’ve not played too many but every time I get the chance to play I’m so grateful and I work as hard as I possibly can for the team.”