Scotland interim manager Malky Mackay won’t consider playing Celtic’s Kieran Tierney at right-back, believing that the position doesn’t get the best out of the talented youngster.

The 20-year-old is of course, a natural left-back, but he was repeatedly deployed on the opposite side of the defence by previous manager Gordon Strachan during the doomed attempt at qualification for the World Cup in Russia next summer.

In a thinly-veiled criticism of that decision, Mackay flatly dismissed the possibility of Tierney lining up in that position under his charge, believing he is wasted there, and he will not consider playing him there in Thursday night’s friendly fixture against The Netherlands.

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Instead, Tierney is likely to play on the left side of central defence, with Liverpool’s Andy Robertson at left-back and Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack filling in on the right of the backline.

It is a position the former Aberdeen man is familiar with, having started his Pittodrie career there and having previously performed well at right-back for the Scotland under-21 side.

With Cardiff City man Callum Paterson only just back from long-term injury, Jack will earn his first Scotland cap in his old position on his former stomping ground.

“It’s funny, because we’ve had a dearth of certain positions,” said Mackay. “Centre-back and right-back have become problem areas.

“Ryan is absolutely an option we are looking at. Callum Paterson is two minutes back from a year out injured, and I certainly won’t be playing Kieran Tierney there.

“Ryan did very well there for our under-21s a couple of years ago, and he obviously started his Aberdeen career there.

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“I spoke to him this morning about the possibility of him playing there. It’s about getting the best out of all of our players, and Ryan Jack is very comfortable on the ball, he’s really dogged as well.

“We have an issue in that position at the moment, but it’s about having people in positions all over the pitch where I feel we are strong.”

Mackay believes that the likes of Tierney and Jack will form the basis of the Scotland side for the forthcoming tilt at qualification for the European Championships in 2020, and that is why he has decided to include so many younger players in his squad for the game at Pittodrie.

“I think we have to look at our fresh blood for the next campaign, but that will be up to the next guy coming in,” he said.

“He might decide that he is going to go back and get a group of older guys coming towards the end of their careers, but that will be up to him.

“I just thought I wanted to see what we have got here for over the next year, and maybe keep dropping in one or two of these young players.

“One or two might just surprise you and go in there to hit the ground running. You’ve seen Kieran Tierney do it, who’s to say there isn’t another one or two who could go in there and do that?

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“I’ve got to be brave enough and have faith to give them that chance, and why not against Holland?

“I think we’ll find that happen anyway, because naturally careers finish and invariably legs start to go.

“At international level we need to be athletic. We need to look as though we have got an ability to be all over the pitch.

“I looked at the game against Lithuania away recently, and I thought we were terrific that night. We were very athletic all over the pitch.

“it’s up to the manager who comes in to decide exactly what he wants to do. I just felt it was time to actually give three or four of these young guys a chance.”