Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Alan Brazil: Kieran Tierney will soon emerge from Gunners nightmare

© Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty ImagesArsenal manager Unai Emery holds the match ball and talks to Kieran Tierney during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery holds the match ball and talks to Kieran Tierney during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Southampton FC at Emirates Stadium on November 23, 2019 in London, United Kingdom.

It looked like a dream move for Kieran Tierney.

Celtic to Arsenal – from his boyhood heroes to a global soccer superpower.

Instead, since the summer, there must have been times when it seemed like a bit of a nightmare.

Injury has curtailed his game time, while the Gunners results have been rotten.

Now the manager, Unai Emery, has been sacked.

But if I were Kieran, I would be full of confidence about the future – because Arsenal are about to get better.

Anybody who has watched them under Emery, particularly recently, could see where their major problem lay.

They are far too weak through the middle and in central defence.

Whoever takes over from Emery will not have his blind spot. It will get sorted in January.

For a player like Kieran, that will make a huge difference.

In Scotland, everyone knows how good a player he is.

We all know that once he’s fully fit, and playing in an Arsenal side that is functioning properly, he will be an absolute menace in the Premiership.

Kieran can absolutely do for the Gunners what Andy Robertson has done for Liverpool.

But to do it, he needs to have the confidence that he’s got centre-halves next to him who can actually defend!

That’s what Robertson has at Liverpool.

He knows if he bombs forward to whip in a cross, he’s got big Virgil van Dijk next to him to mop up anything that comes back.

What does Kieran Tierney have? Sokratis? David Luiz? Calum Chambers?

Sorry, but it’s no wonder they have been struggling.

And it’s no wonder Emery was finally given the heave-ho.

But, as I said, I wouldn’t be panicking if I were in Kieran Tierney’s position.

Already, Arsenal are being linked with proven managers – and it’s no surprise that Brendan Rodgers is among them.

Look at what he’s done for Leicester City since taking over.

Brendan has got them comfortably inside the top four, largely by taking players that were there when he arrived and improving them.

He did exactly the same thing at Celtic early on.

That’s the sort of approach that makes other teams take notice, and Arsenal will certainly be one of them.

Kieran Tierney came on leaps and bounds under Brendan at Celtic, so you can imagine the prospect of linking up again will be appealing to both of them.

But the big question mark for me is whether Brendan will actually want the Arsenal job at this point in time.

It might be a case of right club, wrong time.

After all, he’s on to a good thing at Leicester.

He has a great relationship with the owner and the players are running their socks off for him.

If he can stick around and secure Champions League football, his stock will be even higher than it is now.

And I reckon he’ll be backed in January in an effort to make it happen.

He might actually have more money to spend in the next window at Leicester than he would at Arsenal.

So while making Arsenal better won’t be difficult, getting them up to top four standards will take a bit more work.

Fortunately for whoever comes in, having guys like Kieran Tierney in the squad will make their task that wee bit easier.