There aren’t many more popular players out there than Kieran Tierney.
Just ask the Celtic and Arsenal supporters who have lauded the left-back at any given opportunity, even during his injury problems during these past few years.
In the summer, Tierney returned to Celtic after his contract at Arsenal had expired – he moved to London from Glasgow in 2019.
But things aren’t panning out like the 28-year-old would have wanted, and things were accelerated following Celtic’s defeat to Dundee on Sunday.
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty ImagesKieran Tierney doesn’t look the same after returning to Celtic from Arsenal
With or without Tierney, Celtic would still be in their current mess, and that’s losing their Champions League qualifier and sitting five points behind Hearts in the Premiership table.
Whilst the performances of Brendan Rodgers’ side are alarming, Chris Sutton wanted to note the return of Tierney and how he looks the ‘shadow of himself,’ as he told Sky Sports.
This will be painful reading for Celtic and Arsenal supporters because of how highly they regard the all-action fullback.
“You talk about the right-hand side,” said Sutton. “A lack of threat on the right-hand side.
“(But) Kieran Tierney (on the left) has come back and looks a shadow of the player. Celtic have big issues.
“When you look through the years for game changers, you go back to the last couple of seasons, Celtic always had a game-changer to come off the bench. That bench is just rotten.”
🗣️ “This is a bang average Celtic team”
🗣️”When is Brendan Rodgers going to get criticism”
Chris Sutton and Kris Boyd debate the current problems at Celtic after their defeat at Dundee ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/25h1yfTyv1
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 19, 2025
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Tierney’s stats since returning to Celtic
Tierney has only completed 90 minutes twice since returning, and that’s because his body needs to get used to the rigours of playing week in and week out.
Not only that, all that time of getting hit with injury after injury has taken its toll on the player, and he doesn’t have that power in his legs anymore.
The issue with Tierney is that he set the bar so high in his career, and fans are hoping he can reach those levels again.
Perhaps patience is in order because his body needs to get used to playing on a weekly basis again, without any issues.
- Tierney’s Premiership games: 6
- Starts: 4
- Off the bench: 2
- Goals: –
- Assists: 1
- WhoScored rating: 7.04
- Tierney’s Europa League matches: 2
- Starts: 2
- Off the bench: –
- Goals: –
- Assists: –
- WhoScored rating: 6.84