Scott Brown reacts to Brendan Rodgers ‘publicly challenging’ Celtic winger Mikey Johnston

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Celtic are now preparing for the final Group E game of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and changes are expected for Feyenoord’s visit.

In recent weeks, Brendan Rodgers tested his Celtic bench strength, but it didn’t respond in the manner he would have liked.

Mikey Johnston was a player who started Celtic’s last two matches and Scott Brown thinks the manager was trying to ‘publicly’ challenge the player following his harsh and outspoken comments.

But it doesn’t seem as though the 24-year-old has provided any definite answer, even though Scott Brown thinks he is ‘technically unbelievable’ and he has ‘everything’ to his game, as he told Sky Sports Football (10/12/23 at 11:35 am). 

The fact that Mikey Johnston was hooked as the pressure was being mounted by Kilmarnock at the weekend sums it all up really.

You question where the next start is going to come for the Irish winger because many now want him to deliver consistently.

Mikey Johnston under Brendan Rodgers

“I think Brendan is trying to challenge him publicly,” said Brown. “To show that Mikey has it to come back in and to show these Celtic fans that he can do it.

“It’s a hard thing to do consistently, especially when people think you are just a bench player, you come on for 15-20 minutes and now he has to do it for 90 minutes by showing that he deserves the jersey.

“You look at Maeda, they press, run in behind, they score goals and create chances. Maybe Mikey isn’t doing as much as they would do, at this moment in time. But that’s the level he has set. You have James Forrest there, who is just waiting in line as well.

“As a player, Mikey has got everything. Technically, he is unbelievable. His sharpness. The only thing he needs to work on is defensively. That is a huge part of Brendan’s games. Structure behind the ball. The shape and discipline of the team.”

Brendan Rodgers’ return to Celtic

It’s fair to say that the feelings around Rodgers’ return, in terms of what has been produced out on the pitch, have been mixed.

On one hand, that’s only one league defeat all season, but many feel it has been coming because there hasn’t been that oomph in performances.

The hope is that the team is still trying to settle down and the fans will see the team really motor during the crunch moments of the season.

If that is to happen, then the December 30 fixture against Rangers is huge to set the benchmark for the second half of the campaign.