Gordon Smith: Maybe it’s time for Celtic’s Kieran Tierney to be left out of the Scotland team

THE time has come for Alex McLeish to make bold decisions.

Scotland’s dreadful performance in Israel left myself and everyone else in the country on a downer.

However, unlike the rest of us, the manager is able to do something about it.

Thursday night was far from good enough.

The Andy Robertson/Kieran Tierney conundrum has gone on too long.

They are two fine young players. But pairing them up on the left side is a difficult fit. The whole is less than the sum of the parts.

While Robertson was at fault at the first goal, I thought Tierney really struggled all night.

He’s being rested for today’s friendly with Portugal. Even so, it is time for a change.

The Celtic man is not going to get in at left-back ahead of Robertson. That decision was taken by McLeish when he made the Liverpool player his captain.

And, as Tierney doesn’t look comfortable further in, I believe we have to revisit the idea of using him at right-back.

Admittedly, it didn’t go too well the last time we tried it.

At least have him compete for the right-back position with Stephen O’Donnell.

If he can fill it, then great.

While I like O’Donnell as a player, questions remain about his suitability at international level.

There were times in Haifa when he was getting swamped.

If Tierney can’t take to the right-back role, then that is football.

You have to look at getting a balanced side out on the pitch, one that works well together as a unit.

For me, considering Tierney as a central defender – or even on the left side of a back three – muddies the waters.

Against Israel, Charlie Mulgrew did well before his injury, and while John Souttar did not have his best game – and was unlucky with the sending off – he and Scott McKenna are clearly seen as the long-term answer to our long-running issues at the back.

There is no need to look further than those three.

So as tough as it sounds, I would be prepared to leave Tierney out – even if he is quite possibly the second-best footballer we have at our disposal.

The hope would be that it will not come to that, and that Tierney and Robertson can do the kind of job Danny McGrain and Sandy Jardine – both essentially right-backs – used to do for us so well when playing on either side of the defence.

Another very tough decision McLeish has to take centres round another Celtic player, this time one he needs to get back into the side.

Had we beaten Israel, then the manager would have been within his rights to overlook Leigh Griffiths for the remaining Nations League fixtures.

No one likes the kind of withdrawal we witnessed from the striker who, all the indications are, was far from pleased at falling behind Steven Naismith and Jonny Russell in the pecking order.

But this is international football and Alex has to work with the pool that he has got. That means persuading Griffiths to come back.

We need to win the remaining two ties to have a chance of reaching Euro 2020 via the Nations League, and the man who hit those two amazing free-kicks against England is the best goalscorer we have.

After that, Alex must look at the formation. Or rather, the way we play in the formation.

Going 3-4-3 is actually a logical approach for the players we have at our disposal.

But it went badly wrong in Israel.

Their players looked like they had vast areas of space in which to play. Their forward players were hitting shots from all over the place.

Astonishingly, our players – guys who play at a high level in club football – looked like they didn’t understand what they were supposed to be doing.

It is not difficult. You shut down the opposition’s time and space.

Our guys should all be familiar with this way of playing.

So Alex has to determine, and very quickly, what the problem was on Thursday night, or rip it up and start again with a system the players are going to be comfortable with.

You don’t need to be world-beaters to succeed in international football. But when you are up against the best another country has to offer, you have to be tight and be together.

As I said at the top, the time has come for bold decisions.