Scott Brown was slammed by a Sky Sports journalist for an “awful tackle” that warranted a straight red card during Celtic’s 2-0 defeat to Hibernian on Sunday.
The Hoops skipper returned to the starting XI after starting recent matches on the bench but could not stop his side sinking to their third league defeat of the campaign.
Brown was booked after 38 minutes when he chopped down goalscorer Vykintas Slivka near the halfway line with a high and late tackle.
Sky journalist Andrew Dickson was unimpressed and hit out on his personal Twitter account at Brown for a scissors-style challenge in which he had “both feet off the ground” and which merited “a red card all day long”.
That's an awful tackle from Brown – both feet off the ground, scissors action as he challenges and a red card all day long.
— Andrew Dickson (@mrandrewdickson) December 16, 2018
OPINION
This was not the kind of impact Brown was hoping to make after being restored to the Celtic starting XI at Easter Road. The skipper’s challenge on Slivka was crude and poorly timed. He could have had no complaints if he’d been given his marching orders but, as is par for the course in Scottish football, the officials got it completely wrong. Brown had a mediocre match, if truth be told. Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was without four key players and changed formation to a back three in order to compensate. It did not work. Brown and Olivier Ntcham in central midfield did not offer the class and composure provided by Ryan Christie and Callum McGregor in the last month or so, and it is easy to see why that pair have now become the back-up option in the middle of the pitch rather then the number one choice. Brown must do far better than this to show Rodgers why he should be in the strongest XI.