‘He’s not perfect’: Alex McLeish defends under-fire Liverpool star Andy Robertson

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Andy Robertson has shone in the Premier League under Jurgen Klopp but his Scotland form has suffered during Euro 2020 qualifying.

Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish has come out in support of Andy Robertson after another testing international break for the Liverpool left-back, in quotes reported by the Liverpool Echo.

Robertson is arguably the best left-back in world football right now, playing a major role as Jurgen Klopp’s Reds won the Champions League last season before storming into an eight point lead at the top of England’s top flight.

But while the former Hull City and Dundee United flyer has shone at club level, his performances for the Scottish national team have been a little below par since he inherited the captain’s armband from Scott Brown.

Robertson was slammed by supporters once agian after a 4-0 thrashing in Russia on Thursday, prompting McLeish to defend a player who he handed the captaincy to 13 months ago.

“I think it was a no-brainer to get him in as captain. He has Virgil van Dijk behind him (at Liverpool) so he can charge upfield quite a lot. Maybe in the Scotland team he might not be quite able to do that as often as he could being a Liverpool player,” said McLeish, who was replaced by Steve Clarke in May.

“But that’s part of Andy’s learning and I think he can cope with that extremely well. He’s a strong character. He’s going to make mistakes now and again, he’s not perfect. You don’t have all the answers.

“We’ve seen even the supreme, big centre-half alongside him, a couple times that even Virgil is human. Robertson’s allowed to be human.”

Along with John McGinn, Robertson is one of the few truly top class players in Clarke’s squad right now.

Unfortunately, this means that Kieran Tierney, one of the best left-backs in Britain who swapped Celtic for Arsenal over the summer, could find himself stuck on the bench or in a back three rather than his natural role with Robertson one of the first names on Clarke’s team-sheet, regardless of a recent dip in form.