Celtic podcaster John McGinley has criticised the performance that Scott Brown put in during the club’s recent Premiership game against Kilmarnock.
McGinley was recently present on the latest episode of The Grand Auld podcast and he discussed many issues surrounding the Parkhead side. He gave his opinion about the club’s 1-1 draw against Kilmarnock and he had criticism for the performance of Brown on Sunday.
Ryan Christie had scored for the Hoops, but Kilmarnock equalised some minutes later and the Bhoys failed to take the lead once again in the game (as per BBC Sport).
McGinley made his opinion clear about Brown and felt that he didn’t come up with a good performance on Sunday. He also addressed the manner in which Neil Lennon substituted the Scotsman in the second half, claiming he was ‘puzzled’ by the amount of time Brown got on the pitch.
He said: “I don’t know if there’s a real explanation. I’m just looking for answers. I’m looking at the team. I’m looking at the performance and I’m looking for answers, [there are] certain things that completely puzzled me throughout the 90 minutes. One of them was the fact that Scott Brown stayed on the pitch for 80 minutes.
Should Lennon drop Scott Brown?
Not at all!
Yes, he needs to be dropped
“He [Lennon] doesn’t usually substitute Brown off when a game is tight. I think the fact that he did speaks volumes for how poor Brown was today.
“He was well off the pace. He didn’t offer us anything. I’m not sure when we’re chasing the game in the second half of a match when it’s 1-1 and let’s be honest, Kilmarnock had settled for the draw at one point into the second half by the hour mark, [they were] really playing for the draw at that point and what use does Scott Brown have to us in that kind of scenario? He didn’t have to do much defending. He didn’t really have to cover for anyone in a defensive sense. So why not bring on [Olivier] Ntcham? Why not change it up? Why not change up the formation or do something a lot more drastic than what happened?”
TIF Thoughts…
Brown had started in the midfield in Celtic’s 4-2-3-1 shape and had featured beside Callum McGregor. The midfielder registered a rating of 6.16 in the game and was taken off in the 80th minute.
Brown, who is valued at £1.08m, made three fouls in the game and didn’t make a single interception. He made just a single tackle and even picked up a yellow card (as per WhoScored).
So clearly, Brown didn’t have a good game and perhaps that is why Lennon took him for Ntcham in the second-half. Fans can only hope that he improves in the next few games and helps Celtic potentially get on a winning run soon.