Former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson says he fears that left-back Kieran Tierney has been trying to take on too much responsibility when playing for the Gunners recently.

The Sky Sports pundit is a big admirer of the Scottish international but he thinks the defender’s enthusiasm to get involved in the game means he sometimes neglects to do the basics:

“I like Tierney. The problem is that he is becoming a bit of a school captain. He is trying to do everything. Instead of doing his job, like stopping crosses, he’s trying to do everything, so he is caught in between. Stop the cross or get back into a position.”

It must be said that Tierney did have a difficult start to the season. He was especially poor in the 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea, but he has turned a corner since then.

While he didn’t do anything spectacular against Burnley last weekend, he was defensively solid and made a number of forays forward to deliver crosses into the box.

Merson is probably being slightly unfair in suggesting that Tierney lacks discipline but at 24 years of age, there is still room to develop his game, and hopefully, the difficulties he has faced more recently will be a good learning experience for him.