Former captain Scott Brown believes Celtic’s season now hinges heavily on how well they can juggle European and domestic demands after the international break.
Despite being two points clear at the top of the William Hill Premiership, Martin O’Neill’s Hoops have come under intense scrutiny after back-to-back defeats against Rangers either side of a Europa League loss at home to Ferencvaros.
Brown is confident the three-week hiatus will allow his old side the chance to regroup after a start to the campaign that also included a Champions League play-off collapse against LASK.
“Champions League, we would have loved to have been in that, but domestically, minus the Rangers games there, they’ve been winning games, and that’s all that really matters,” Brown said on The Breakdown podcast.
“This is probably the time it’s hard because it’s the international break and most of the lads are going away, playing with their country.
“But that might help as well, being away from the pressure, being away from the environment and Celtic Park and stuff like that, and letting everything calm down.
“Everyone just relax, you’re still top of the league, huge effort now from here until January, then start to look at recruitment (in the next window).”
Celtic must cram in eight Europa League fixtures between mid-October and January, while Derek McInnes’ Gers have no European commitments to contend with.
In addition to having a heavier fixture-load in the coming months, the Hoops will also be playing league matches after their city rivals more often than not.
“Rangers are going to play most Saturdays now, so Celtic are going to be playing catch-up,” Brown pointed out. “So when Celtic start to go Thursday-Sunday, Rangers will have that one-point advantage (before Celtic play) if they’re winning their games.
“But I’ve been on both sides of it and if Rangers make a mistake, you know you can go five points clear.
“I thought that was a big thing with Celtic on Sunday. They knew they could have gone eight points clear. I thought psychologically that would have all but shut the league off already.”
Despite winning his opening six league matches of the season, Celtic boss O’Neill position has become a major point of focus in recent days, although early indications are that the 74-year-old will remain in charge after chief executive Michael Nicholson vowed in a statement on Tuesday that “we will come together and continue to support Martin and the players”.
Brown noted that it was only a few weeks ago many Rangers fans wanted McInnes out after a turbulent start to the campaign.
“Momentum’s everything,” he said. “You can see it in one week in football. Celtic were flying high, then they get beat from Rangers (in the Premier Sports Cup, beat in Europe and beat from Rangers again. And then it turns.
“Everybody wanted Del (McInnes) sacked, now everybody wants Martin out. Football, you can’t keep wanting everybody out every week.”
