Polite but forceful would be the best way of describing Andy Robertson’s reaction to the first mention of Kieran Tierney.
Now that the two English Premier League left-backs are in a Scotland squad for the first time under Steve Clarke, how they will be deployed against Israel tonight is one of the big pre-match talking points, if not the biggest.
The former Dundee United man would clearly rather it doesn’t become a recurring theme, however.
Asked about Tierney’s recovery from injury to become an FA Cup and Community Shield winner at Arsenal, as well as a fans’ favourite, Liverpool star Robertson was more surprised by the time it had taken to pose the question, rather than the question itself.
“Not bad, that’s 10 minutes before you’ve mentioned KT and me,” he joked (kind of).
“He’s an unbelievable professional and you can tell that when you sit down with him. You can see it the way he plays.
“The last wee while has been hard for him injury-wise, but he’s a fantastic player with a lot of talent and he’s come back stronger.
“His style and his determination is there for all to see and hopefully his injury problems are all in the past now and he can look ahead.
“We’re delighted to have him back. He’s been out a long time and it’s great he’s back because he’s such an important player for Scotland.
“We’ve both spoken about it before. I think we are both fed up hearing the comparisons between us.
“We get on great, both on and off the pitch.”
The Scotland captain added: “There is no real comparison. Look, we play in the same position, but we play at different clubs and previous managers have found a way to get us both in the team.
“It’s up to this manager whether he decides to do that or not.
“He’s slotted into a back three for Arsenal and done it very well. I’ve played against him twice, and it looks as though Mikel Arteta has got them drilled into that formation and they play it very well.
“KT can play left centre-back, but that’s up to the manager whether he chooses to do that. If he does, that’s exactly how we’ll deal with it and we’ll work on it.
“We can all play different positions and it’s up to the manager to decide on that, and then it’s up to us to go and perform on the pitch.
“It gets a bit wearing on both of us to be compared all the time, we’re fortunate to both be playing at big clubs and that’s the way we look at it.”
Robertson and his team-mates are determined to make sure the next few months, which feature the play-offs for the European Championship finals, become historic for Scotland rather than anticlimactic.
“It’s fair to say the next 10 weeks could be the making of this squad,” he said.
“We’ve got a semi-final and hopefully a final. We’ve also got these Nations League games too. It’s been 22 years since Scotland last qualified for a major finals and all the boys are aware of that.
“We’re the next squad that can try and put that right and at the moment we are two games away from doing that.
“We’re also at the start of another Nations League campaign and whatever happens we will learn from it.
“That’s the most important thing.”
