Scott Brown delivers on promise with Motherwell win
By StevieMac
Everyone knows Celtic haven’t had a good start to the season. The players definitely know that, they recognise they need to improve and to do so quickly. A win over Motherwell is a positive step.
Celtic’s game at Motherwell was always important to keep in contention for the league. Every game is to be honest. That hasn’t changed, you don’t win titles if you keep losing points. But after Thursday’s horror show against Sparta Prague, the league match took on a whole new significance.
In the end it was a resounding Celtic 1-4 win away from home and 3 vital league points secured. If more points had been dropped today, the noise debating Celtic’s poor start would have been up around volume level 11 at least!
Plenty has already been written about Thursday, there has been lots of focus on the squad as a whole and on individual players. The furore of some over as simple a point as Mohammed Elyounoussi looking at his phone shows how people are ready to pick on anything at this point of time.
He was only looking at it on Thursday, he more than answered the call for more on the pitch against Motherwell though with a couple of early goals and a third in the second half to secure an accomplished hat trick.
Neil Lennon has come under severe criticism with more questions over whether or not he should remain at the club. And Scott Brown as captain and very much a hero with the vast majority of Celtic supporters hasn’t escaped the storm either.
Brown spoke with the club’s official site about the situation and the Sparta Prague game ahead of facing Motherwell. He tells of how he and the rest of the players are fully aware that Thursday’s 1-4 loss at Celtic Park was not good enough:
"“We don’t accept that performance, it’s not good enough.“Everyone in that changing room knows that it’s not good enough. It’s now about the fighting character of the men in that dressing room, everyone coming into one to make sure we’re a solid team. We need to start becoming hard to beat. We need to start scoring goals and keeping clean sheets as well.“Everyone knows each season is not going to be plain sailing but this season’s not been good enough in the way we started and the way we’ve been playing. We need to make sure we try and get the performances that we know we can and hit the heights we know we can.”"
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It was a low point in an awful series of results, it sure wasn’t anywhere near good enough. Fans had a glimmer of hope after the semi final win and performance against Aberdeen last weekend, but that’s been like a small sparkle in a sea of gloom. Today’s game adds a bit more hope and promise.
Did we get the fight back against Motherwell? Yes, and it’s nice to bounce back from 4-1 loss to a 1-4 away win. There was a definite improvement and it’s a positive result. There was much more effort, spark and vitality across the players. Celtic let the game slip a little in the second half and it looked as it it was going to be an edgy end to the match when Motherwell pulled one back.
But the Hoops fought back well with a quick goal to restore confidence. And Ntcham’s goal towards the end wrapped it up nicely. The fans have a much brighter start to next week than the way most had been feeling at the end of this week.
Before the game against Motherwell Broony was looking forward to the game and no doubt the chance to redeem themselves, a little anyway:
"“It’s about how you bounce back and the characters in the changing room. The manager will make sure he gives us a good chat. We’ll look forward to Motherwell now”"
There’s still a very long way to go. This was a must win match. They did bounce back and won it. Next game and more importantly a similar result please.