Steve Clarke convinced Kieran Tierney he was better than Andy Robertson to solve Scotland dilemma

Steve Clarke has revealed how he had to persuade Kieran Tierney he was better than skipper Andy Robertson to convince the Arsenal ace to move to central defence and solve Scotland’s left-back conundrum.

The Scots boss has lifted the lid on his brainwave to ease the side’s defensive woes by creating a position for the man he now reckons is the best over-lapping central defender in the world.

It was only possible after a heart-to-heart in which he massaged Tierney’s ego.

The masterstroke was key to securing Scotland’s place at a first major championship in 23 years as they recovered from a rotten start in qualifying to qualifying for last year’s Euros thanks to a nerve-shredding penalty shoot out in Serbia.

And it’s worked to secure another play-off spot for this year’s World Cup off he back of a six-game winning run in qualifying.

Clarke admits he did much soul-searching after a 4-0 thumping in Russia in October 2019 left our Euro 2020 qualifying hopes in tatters.

He said: “Defensively we weren’t great and needed a change. I phoned my coaches and said ‘we can’t go with a back four, I want to go with a back three’.

“I had never coached a back three in my life so it was a challenge for me and my coaches.

“We had two of the best left-backs in world football, Tierney and Robertson, and had to figure out how to get them in the team.

“My idea was that Tierney could play centre-back and I had this mad idea that Scott McTominay could play as one of the others.

“I had a really good conversation with Tierney to tell him he was going to be the best left-sided centre-back that Scotland had ever had.

“A myth had built up around Kieran that he didn’t want to come and play with the national team, which wasn’t correct.

“But I think