Scott Brown played a captain’s role to help Celtic beat Hearts and clinch the Quadruple Treble but he might feature a lot less over the next few months.
Broony was back to his best for much of Celtic’s nail-biting Scottish Cup win over Hearts at Hampden Park. His ribbing of Halliday in the first half, his pure joy and yell towards Steven Naismith after The Hoops’ third and whatever was happening after the game between the skipper and the Hearts squad all showed that he can still turn back the clock on the big occasions.
The power behind the header leading to Griffiths’ goal, shrugging off Naismith’s terrible stamp on him, Broony threw himself into the game with his old ferocity and strength.
Some fans recognised the effort and the value of the captain. But over recent weeks he has been the subject of a lot of criticism on social media. There’s been pressure to drop him from the starting line up and we’ve seen Ismaila Soro and David Turnbull feature instead in the last two matches against Lille and Kilmarnock, and to great effect.
Scott Brown what a man, superb today 💚🍻🏆🍀☘️🤍⭐️
— 🍀 67 Pins ⭐️ (@67_pins) December 20, 2020
The rest seems to have done Broony and the team no harm. Team performances picked up and there is merit in the call for new faces to start over the ‘Old Guard’.
More from Celtic FC News
- Celtic handed fresh injury doubt before Feyenoord game
- Celtic’s £40.7 million announcement should scare Rangers
- Brendan Rodgers makes superb claim about returning Celtic player
- BBC pundit makes sensational claim about Celtic hero Kyogo
- Kyogo Furuhashi sends clear message to Celtic doubters
Brown did fade away in the Cup final in the second half, which surely contributed to Celtic’s below par display in that phase of the game. By the time he was subbed off for Soro, he was more than ready to be replaced and noticeably struggling with a possible injury. Surprisingly it’s not his arms from being overworked due to lifting trophies!
From pictures during that half and from the way he was hobbling as he picked up yet another Scottish Cup, it looks like some form of groin strain. If that turns out to be the case, it can often take a bit of time to recover. As a result, it might be time to send out the Soro signal!
There was talk of sentimental decisions leading up to the final. Sentiment will likely and hopefully go out the window now that that’s behind us and the Hoops are in a scrap for the league title. This could be Soro’s next big chance and from his recent displays it looks like he is someone who will grab it with both hands.