Tierney has completed the full 90 minutes in just 13 of his 45 appearances for the Hoops since his return from Arsenal
20:46, 07 Apr 2026
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Kieran Tierney(Image: Vagelis Georgariou/Action Plus/Shutterstock)
Celtic have been told to drop Kieran Tierney and hand Marcelo Saracchi an extended run in the team for the title-run in.
And that's because the Scotland full back is looking increasingly worn about, according to former Partick Thistle and Dundee United boss Ian McCall.
The left back has racked up 45 appearances in all competitions so far this season after re-joining his boyhood club from Arsenal last summer, the most he has managed the 2017/18 campaign during his first spell at Parkhead.
However, Tierney has only completed 90 minutes in 13 of those matches and was replaced by Boca Juniors loanee Saracchi with 14 minutes remaining in last Sunday's 2-1 away win against Dundee that moved Martin O'Neill's men to within three points of league leaders Hearts.
With six games remaining, McCall believes that fatigue is starting to catch up with Tierney and also reckons the travelling Celtic support on Sunday felt the same way. Speaking on Open Goal, he said: "It’s a horrible thing. I think he should be playing left-back ahead of Kieran Tierney just now.
"Kieran Tierney just looks tired. The bottom line is, look how much he’s played over the last four years. I thought the Celtic supporters were giving Saracchi a cheer when he came on when Tierney got taken off.
“We all know Tierney is top-notch when he’s fit, but right at this minute, for these six games, Saracchi looks like he has more energy and more about him. I’d maybe think about him."
Just last week, the player himself hit back at the critics who argue that he is no longer the same player that left Celtic for Hearts nearly seven years ago.
"People are always going to do it, and they still say it today", he told the club's media channel. "There’s nothing you can do apart from work hard.
"And I’m just so grateful because the club, one of the reasons I came back is because I know the club so well and they know me, and they probably knew that I was going to need a bit of time.
"So the club never put pressure on me at the start to play three games a week, three 90 minutes a week. It was a slow buildup, and that was always the plan.
"So in my head at the time, I was like, Oh, maybe I would like to play more and longer and be fitter and be stronger, but I knew it was a process."
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