Brown: Johansen “big enough and ugly enough” to handle boo Bhoys

Scott Brown has backed Stefan Johansen to get back to his best and silence the boo Bhoys at Celtic.

The 25-year-old midfielder has endured a torrid spell of form this season and has struggled to hit the heights of last season that saw him earn the SFA Player of the Year award.

Johansen has scored four goals and assisted on seven occasions this season, but his below par performances have led to fans calling for him to be dropped on a weekly basis.

Manager Ronny Deila has stuck by his fellow Norwegian and has played him 30 times already this season for Celtic.

Cheers rung round Paradise during Celtic’s 2-0 win on Saturday when Johansen was replaced by Tom Rogic, but the Hoops captain has backed his team-mate.

As quoted by the Scotsman, Brown defended him and said:

When you come to big clubs, you have to expect it now and again. Some people love you and some people hate you. It’s part of the baggage.

Stefan is definitely big enough and ugly enough to take that on the chin. He is a talented boy, he was PFA Scotland Player of the Year last season.

That shows you how good a player he is and he has also been linked with moves here, there and everywhere. He is a top player. It’s down to everyone having their own opinion of players. Some people really like him, some don’t.

It’s the same with myself – they either love me or hate me. You have to take that on the chin and deal with it.

Goals from Leigh Griffiths and Dedryck Boyata gave Celtic a comfortable win over Ross County, but the Hoops skipper admitted it wasn’t easy.

It was just good to get back to winning ways and get a few smiles back on the lads’ faces.

The pitch wasn’t the best and it ended up being a battle more than anything. But sometimes you have to win the battle before you can get the ball down and start playing.

We managed to do that and get three points on the board. That’s the main thing for us just now. Sometimes you need to win ugly and hopefully with better pitches as the season goes on, our performances will also get better.

Prior to Aberdeen’s 3-1 loss to Inverness last night, Shay Logan said he believes everyone in Scotland apart from Celtic fans wants the Dons to win the league title.

Brown was reluctant to be dragged into any potential media frenzy and responded promptly to his comments and quickly put it to bed.

I’d need to ask everyone to find out if that was right, wouldn’t I? That’s a wee bit hard for me to do. Each to their own.