Ronny Deila salutes Celtic skipper Scott Brown after Fir Park victory
Sunday 18 October 2015 10:02, UK
Boss Ronny Deila paid tribute to Scott Brown after the Celtic captain shrugged off injury to help drive his side to the top of the Premiership with a 1-0 win at Motherwell.
Boss Ronny Deila paid tribute to Scott Brown after the Celtic captain shrugged off injury to help drive his side to the top of the Premiership with a 1-0 win at Motherwell.
The Scotland skipper broke down at training on Thursday with an ankle problem which left him a big doubt for the Fir Park game where Mark McGhee was beginning his second stint as manager.
However, Brown took up his usual centre midfield role and helped dominate a game in which Nadir Ciftci's poacher's strike proved enough to take the champions two points clear of Aberdeen.
It is not sunshine every day - especially not here in Scotland
Deila said: "I said to the players in the dressing room afterwards that Scott is a role model in hard work. I think he had the ball by himself for the last five minutes.
"His ankle was very swollen on Thursday but he is a leader by performance and he shows what attitude is. There is a difference between pulled muscles and when you get a knock. Then, sometimes you have to get yourself together and go out and be ready for it.
"You are playing for Celtic, you are playing in the Premiership and fighting for titles. It is not sunshine every day - especially not here in Scotland - so you have go through it sometimes and he was a fantastic example."
"I am very happy that we are back where we want to be. Now we just have to keep on winning games, performing and developing and we will have a very good chance of staying there."
Deila revealed that defender Jozo Simunovic, out since his debut against Ajax on September 17 with a twisted ankle and latterly a bruised bone, is set to return to training and could be in contention for the Europa League game at Molde.
Midfielders Stefan Johansen and James Forrest should be back from knocks that kept them out and Nir Bitton will be fit despite being substituted in the second-half on Saturday.
He said: "Simunovic will train fully from tomorrow (Sunday), which is a positive thing. He has a chance (for Molde) but he has been out for a while so we will see what we are doing.
"Bitton is no problem. He wanted to play more. Johansen is back and Forrest I think is back."
Mark McGhee, who was boss at Motherwell between 2007 and 2009, revealed a communication breakdown concerning Louis Lang - who had been moved up to centre midfield from defence - made it difficult for his side initially.
He said: "We set them up to be a 4-3-3 and we intended and hoped that the three strikers could play as three strikers.
"As it was, particularly in the first half, young Louis Lang took it upon himself to be a spare player and that gave us a few problems. I put it down to me and the instructions I gave him.
"It is a new thing for him and maybe I expected too much of the lad to be able to get to grips with it. But we were able to give him better instructions at half-time and he was able to do the job better.
"I hope people saw why I played him in midfield; he can head it, he can pass it, he can run - he has all the makings of a decent midfield player."
