Brown should have known better. But its not the first time he should have known better, though it should be the last. Take the captaincy off him, and make him earn his place in the team all over again. On form, and playing to his strengths, he is a tremendous asset, with his enthusiasm and commitment inspiring those around him.<\/p>\n
Last night, again, he was a liability.<\/p>\n
Barcelona move the ball around quickly, and that saps the energy from the opposition. Its hard enough to keep up with them with eleven players. Losing one makes it nigh on impossible.<\/p>\n
Kevin McCarra, football journlist with the Guardian and one time Etims podcast guest-look for it on here, its a great chat- had this to say, when he was on Talksport radio this morning;<\/p>\n
“He is the captain and that is a terrible example to set. A great deal of damage has been done to\u00a0Celtic<\/a>\u00a0through that.”<\/p>\n Its hard to disagree. So I won’t.<\/p>\n As a result, he won’t feature in the next game, the crucial home match with Ajax. So Celtic need to get used to not having him around, starting with the Motherwell game on Saturday.<\/p>\n He has , according to Kris Commons, apologised to the rest of the players, which implies a certain degree of guilt, and its time for him to make it up to the fans. By growing up.<\/p>\n So, where does that leave the campaign, now that Celtic have started with two straight defeats ?<\/p>\n Firstly, it was always going to be about getting the better of Ajax, and most of us would be happy with third place, giving us \u00a0European football after Christmas. This, in turn, \u00a0would allow the new players to gain experience and might even improve the co-efficient.<\/p>\n So, a home win next time out against Ronald de Boers side \u00a0could kick start the competition for us, followed by an away win in Amsterdam, -who could only manage a draw at home to \u00a0Milan \u00a0last night- \u00a0combined with two Barcelona wins over the Italians , would see Barcelona on 12, Celtic on six, Milan on four with Ajax adrift on one. A home win over Milan would ensure qualification. Two wins over Ajax, of course means the Europa league.<\/p>\n So its not all doom and gloom. Celtic have played very well in the two games so far, and there is actually a feeling that Lennons team are desperately unlucky to be sitting on no goals and no points. Well, there is from me. But then I wear these<\/p>\n and I suppose I could be accused of this<\/p>\n Meanwhile , Neil Lennon has indicated at further embarrassment for the club when he said he would appeal against the red card given to Brown. Might be an idea to watch the video first…<\/p>\n \u2018I don\u2019t think\u00a0Neymar<\/a>\u00a0does himself any favours the way he behaves at times. Our supporters are very respectful of great players.<\/p>\n \u2018Iniesta walked off to a standing ovation from the\u00a0Celtic<\/a>\u00a0support. Neymar, after the incident, got booed every time he touched the ball.\u2019<\/p>\n Which sounded a bt like \u00a0when Martin O’Neill criticised Celtic fans for demanding Celtic attack during the home game against Boavista in 203, for knowing nothing about football, before telling the world how knowledgable we were after booing Porto after they had dived and time wasted their way to a 3-2 win in Seville, in front of \u00a0several million fans \u00a0at the ground.<\/p>\n Which reminds me, what on earth are Celtic fans doing applauding the opposition anyway ? I can’t be the only one sick of foreign superstars telling the world what a great place it is to come and play. It should be an ordeal for them, not a career highspot.<\/p>\n I’ve written to UEFA this morning, asking if we can chuck darts at them from now on. Wouldn’t be any less irresponsible than a Scott Brown challenge.<\/p>\n The tifo , by all accounts looked good on the telly, which was the whole point, I suppose, but again, surely a picture of a pile of dead Barcelona players with darts sticking out of them would have at least made them look nervously into the stands before setting off down the flanks with the ball ? \u00a0We could even dress up \u00a0for these games.<\/p>\n Of course, some would say throwing darts is a bit extreme. In that case, a couple of \u00a0housebricks should suffice.<\/p>\n Its not supposed to be a nice day out for the other team. The crowd is supposed to put them off, not stand there applauding them afterwards.<\/p>\n Anyway, I believe the tifo upset the Green Brigade, who were a little peeved at not being asked to do one of their own, although to be fair, the club were always unlikely to approve of one that had the words ” Lawwell ” and “tosser ” in the display.<\/p>\n The clubs official site has a different take on events than the Diary, which makes me wonder if we were at the same game;<\/p>\n ” Despite having the bulk of possession, the Catalans only fashioned five chances on target, and the majority of them came after Celtic were controversially reduced to 10 men when Scott Brown was given a straight red\u00a0card<\/a>\u00a0by the referee.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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