BT Sport pundit Martin Keown has sympathised with Arsenal defender Kieran Tierney after the former Celtic star was thrown under the bus by his team's tactics in their 2-0 loss to PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday.
The Gunners travelled to Eindhoven in good spirits having lost just one game all season in all competitions, sitting top of both their Europa League group and the Premier League in what has been a superb start to the season for Mikel Arteta's men. However, they were comprehensively beaten in the Netherlands, with PSV putting the ball in the back of the net no shorter than five times - albeit three were ruled out by VAR due to offside calls.
A shambolic second could have been easily preventable when goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale came rushing out of his net to punch a corner, allowing 6ft 2in striker Luuk de Jong to score a header just after the hour mark. But with Tierney marking him, and with the Hoops icon standing at just 5ft 10in, Keown claims the Gunners were destined to fail - and sympathised with the Lennoxtown graduate with his teammates failing to help him out.
“For the second goal, Tierney picks up De Jong from the corner and straight away I’m screaming at the TV because he shouldn’t be the one marking him," Keown told BT Sport.
"Ramsdale comes, thinking he can cure the problem, but it's a big haymaker from. him. It's one of those that needed a straight arm but it was wild from Ramsdale.
"Tierney doesn’t even get off the ground, I don’t know why he was marking him. If I’m Holding I would make myself available to help him but he didn’t do that either.”
