OPINION
There’s no doubt that Liverpool left back Andrew Robertson is a world class player, one of the best at his position in world football.
However, fans of his country Scotland will likely be thinking Reds manager Jurgen Klopp keeps the 25-year-old at Anfield and sends a sub-standard clone of the former Hull City man off to join Steve Clarke’s side every international break.
Robertson was part of the Scotland side that were thumped 4-0 by Russia on Thursday night, the latest in a long line of disappointing results under his captainship.
Perhaps former boss Gordon Strachan should have left the Liverpool man to do his own thing, rather than placing extra responsibility on him with the captaincy. Either way, though, current manager Clarke will surely be asking for more from Robertson moving forward.
Despite that, Scotland legend Ally McCoist gushed over the Reds star on Friday, telling talkSPORT: “We’ve got one or two good players defensively. [John] McGinn’s a good player, Robertson’s a good player, [Kieran] Tierney’s a good player.”
McCoist is right to call Robertson a good player, obviously, but there’s no doubt that he’s failed to take his outstanding club form into international duty for some time now.
It’s difficult to play as well for a poor Scotland team as he does for his phenomenal club side, but great players elevate their teams, and Robertson hasn’t done that. More often than not he has played down to the level of his teammates.
Clarke’s side are going through a transitional period, of course, but there’s no doubt Robertson isn’t doing enough at this moment in time to pull his nation out of the crisis it finds itself in.
