Three Things We Learned About Kieran Tierney From His Arsenal Debut

Three Things We Learned About Kieran Tierney From His Arsenal Debut

Kieran Tierney made his first appearance for Arsenal in the 5-0 win against Nottingham Forest last night, and fans were excited to finally see the £25m summer signing in action.

Many supporters who are not avid watchers of Scottish football would have been intrigued to see what the 22-year-old could offer, and they would have been impressed by what they saw.


It is important to point out that it was only a League Cup tie against a lower league opponent, but you could clearly see the quality that should hold him in good stead when facing tougher opposition. So what did we learn about Tierney yesterday?

1) He can cross a ball

Tierney delivered nine crosses into the box against Forest with three of them reaching their man. If he can keep up that 33% accuracy that would easily surpass the numbers racked up by Arsenal’s previous two regular left-backs.

So far this campaign, Sead Kolasinac has averaged 3.68 crosses per 90 minutes with a success percentage of 29%. Last season, Nacho Monreal was averaging just 1.28 crosses per 90 with a 27% accuracy.

Although you wouldn’t expect Tierney to deliver nine crosses every match, if he keeps up his success rate, he would be an upgrade on the two previous incumbents in the role.

2) He will get stuck in

Tierney clearly likes to defend, and he was involved in five one-one defensive duels against Forest. He won three of them (60%). That is slightly below Kolasinac’s percentage (69.7%) for the season so far.

The Scottish international does appear to be a more proactive defender. He likes to intercept the ball rather than allowing it to go to opponents’ feet where he has to make a tackle. He made four interceptions last night and recovered the ball five times.

For Celtic last campaign, his average number of interceptions per 90 minute was 4.6 while his average recoveries were 7.43 so we should see him improve on his performance yesterday.

3) He is comfortable with the ball at his feet

Being able to dribble with the ball is an important aspect of a modern fullback’s game. They generally have a lot of possession with large spaces to run into down the flanks.

Against Forest, Tierney made six dribbles, and he didn’t lose the ball once. Contrast that with Kolasinac who averages just 0.92 dribbles per 90 this season and you can see a clear difference in style.

For Celtic, Tierney’s dribbling stats for the whole of last season show a man keen to get on the ball. He averages 4.57 dribbles per 90 with a success percentage of 65%. If he can bring those numbers to England, he’ll prove to be a big threat when in possession.

All in all, then, it was a great start for Tierney, and the 22-year-old will be hoping to build on it over the coming months. Will he start against Manchester United? His first game suggests he may be ready.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.