Kieran Tierney

Communication doesn't always have to be verbal.

Plus, we play in that environment a handful of times each season.

 

Hard to concentrate on playing football and also interacting with others when your stoned :smiley-laughing002:

 

Kieran Tierney: I cope with pressure of big games at Celtic by doing quiz in dressing room




There is the small matter of £20million being on the line. Not to mention the prestige of a club anxious to be back among the elite after two seasons of exclusion.
Factor in the need for a new managerial regime to make a positive early impression and it’s clear a substantial burden of pressure accompanies tonight’ s Champions League third qualifying round second leg at Celtic Park.
It could all be enough to weigh onerously on an experienced player, let alone a 19-year-old with barely a season of first-team action stored away in his memory banks.


‘When I get to the ground, there is always a programme there when you go in and sit down, so everyone has a read of that. There’s a quiz at the back of that, a Celtic quiz, so I try my best to do that before every game.
‘How do I do? Going back a lot of years can be quite hard. My dad would be good at it! But you definitely need something to take your mind away.
‘You don’t want to be just sitting there for an hour in the dressing room knowing it’s a big, big game. You just want to be relaxed before going out for the warm-up.
‘Obviously this is a big pressure game in front of thousands of people. It’s hard. It’s tough going into games like this, especially for me because I am young as well. Hopefully I can cope with it.
‘The manager, (assistant) Chris (Davies) and (first-team coach) John (Kennedy) have all been speaking to me and everyone else about the game. I think that’s important going into matches like this. I hope it’s a big help for us.’


Tierney helped model Celtic’s new third kit yesterday – a bright fuscia number – but he is not one to bask in the glare of publicity.
Softly spoken and slightly bashful, he still looks unaffected by a genuinely stellar rise over the past 10 months. Yet that persona is utterly transformed on a football pitch.
In last week’s 1-1 first leg draw in Kazakhstan, the Astana players will have quickly realised they had little chance of intimidating their youthful opponent.
‘I am quite quiet off the pitch but on it you wouldn’t go far in any game if you didn’t speak to other players in front of you,’ insisted Tierney.
‘You need to talk to help each other out. Kolo Toure has now come in and he is one of the best talkers I have ever heard. I can tell that even from the first few days.
‘My dad always told me to treat every training session and every game as if it were a cup final. I have always put 100 per cent into everything I do.
‘We all want to get back to the Champions League. That would be brilliant. I am still a teenager and if we could get into the group stages then that would be a dream.’
Astana stand in the way of a place in the play-off round, where Celtic fell to Malmo and Maribor in the previous two seasons under Ronny Deila’s command.
The obvious hope is that they will prove more durable now that Brendan Rodgers, with his superior top-level experience, is at the helm.
This is Tierney’s first experience of a Champions League quest, having made his continental debut against Fenerbahce last November once Celtic had dropped into the Europa League.


He is, though, acutely aware of what is at stake. Memories of the dramatic way the club last claimed a seat at the top table – thanks to an injury-time goal against Shakhter Karagandy in 2013 – provide inspiration.
‘I remember the last time there was a team from Kazakhstan was here, James Forrest scored, the atmosphere was mad,’ grinned Tierney. ‘I was sitting in the stand that night.
‘But as I said, I don’t want to think about it too much or get nervous, just take it as it comes.
‘We are hoping for another victory this time. The goal over there helps us so they will have to come here and score and we’ll be looking to play well and go through.
‘It’s a very important game for everybody here. The Champions League is the place Celtic want to be so we want to get a step closer tomorrow.
‘After the first leg, we know Astana are a tough team to play against. They know what they’re going to do and they do it well as you saw in last year’s Champions League.


‘It’s a tough place to go over there. We went down but got the goal back so that was good for us. We will see how they set themselves up at Celtic Park.
‘Last season, the results in Europe didn’t go our way, but it was brilliant for me at the time in terms of experience. I would hope those four games I played (in the Europa League) would help me going into these matches.
‘The past year has gone so fast. It is what I have always wanted, what every young lad wants - to play in the first-team - and I’m very grateful for the way the fans have treated me over the last year.’
That gratitude is returned in multiples after Tierney – who has been watched by Arsenal and Manchester City - committed his future to Celtic by signing a new five-year contract this summer.
Progression in the Champions League would be the next chapter in a young career surely destined to inspire more than a few future quiz questions of its own.

 

Great desire, won a penalty from nothing.

Class as ever wee man

 

Feckin love this wee guy. Serious question he just keeps getting better, when do we start to say he's world class? Or do we wait until he signs for a big premier club before he's recognised?

 

tonight's Celtic Website Man Of The Match

 

This bhoy is THE real deal!!!!!

 

Yea, couldn't agree more.

 

Came on to a really good game, thought he started off poorly, but never shirks

 

hes * quality

 

His desire is incredible. Won that penalty purely down to chasing a bit of a lost cause.

 

The heart of a lion.

 

Fantastic game.

 

I love him.
Actually love him.

 

Can't believe the elite clubs aren't sniffing around this young superstar

 

Too small. Will never make it.

 

He's just a great player, so consistent, solid defensively and a threat going forward. Whenever something sloppy or a wee mistake happens I always expect that he might panick and go on to have a poor game and maybe hit a bad spell or that but every game he turns out one of our best performers.

 

Surprised how well he pushed up the far left and created crosses as I thought that was not i him but so glad he has shown he can penetrate going forward.

He just needs to continue this form, continue that consistency and he will have a good chance of being a great player for us.

 

Fantastic player, really enjoy watching him such a bundle of energy up and down the park.

Done terrific for the first goal at the penalty.

Something no ones picked up on though, was how clever he was defensively for their goal. Bear with me here and you'll see what I mean, he was the last man running back towards goal, he knew that he couldn't reach it to clear it but made the jump anyway. What I'm getting at here is that a lot of defenders sometimes a rush of blood goes to the head in these heat of the moment situations, and instead of just letting it go and getting on with the game. They hand ball it, give away a penalty and red card going down to 10 men and practically almost hands the opposition the game.

He should get a lot of praise for avoiding doing this because even some of the best have made shocking blood rush moments like this.

Well played Tierney.