The season remains in its infancy, but if the early indications are to be held as a barometer of what is to come, it is the French quarters at Lennoxtown that looks to be making all the noise.
Striker Odsonne Edouard made the backpages before a ball was kicked as Celtic shelled out a club record transfer fee to get him in from PSG on a permanent deal while Olivier Ntcham and Moussa Dembele, prior to a hamstring strain, seemed to be the ones pulling the strings for the Parkhead side in the opening weeks of Celtic’s season.
For Brown, though, it is the quiet ones that are for the watching.
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James Forrest enjoyed a season best return of 17 goals last term and it is the winger whom Brown has been left impressed by in the opening weeks of the new campaign.
“We had a wee tweak of formation,” said the midfielder. “James went out wide and as soon as we found room for him he creates chances. He’s hit the ground running this season too. He was phenomenal last season and he’s looked even better than he did last year and I didn’t think that was possible.
“His fitness levels are incredible. He’s getting up the park and he’s also managed to defend when he needs to too. The manager is putting new things into his game and he keeps ticking boxes.”
Not that Edouard hasn’t registered with the Celtic captain.
The striker netted twice against Rosenborg last Wednesday night as Celtic ran up a 3-1 lead to take to Trondheim for the second leg of tomorrow’s UEFA second round Champions League qualifier. The latter goal perhaps highlighted the swagger he has brought to his game in the last few weeks with an insouciant chip over the advancing Rosenborg goalkeeper, Andre Hansen.
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With Dembele still out for at least another two weeks and Leigh Griffiths just back on the training ground, there is a considerable weight on the shoulders of the 20-year-old.
“He’s really hit the ground running. Since he came back he’s looked in great nick and sharper than he did last year. He will be maturing as well. He will be learning under the gaffer about what formation to play. Last season he was more out left and I think he will be more in the middle this season. He’s been good so far and I am sure there is a lot more to come from him.” Meanwhile, although Celtic hold a 3-1 lead as they head to Trondheim today, Brown has cautioned about the Parkhead side losing concentration.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” he said. “We’ve got to go over there and play as well as we did in the second half last week. We created chance after chance [in the first leg]and we could have scored a few more too. But they will be thinking that too and they know they only need to score two goals and they have got that in them. We need to make sure we turn up with our A game.” Brown will come up against former team-mate and adversary Kenny Miller this weekend. Having shared a dressing room with Miller at Celtic Park and with Scotland, Brown watched with some interest as Miller’s Ibrox career ended ignominiously last season. A furious dressing room row with Graeme Murty in the aftermath of the William Hill Scottish Cup 4-0 semi-final defeat to Celtic last term brought the curtain down on Miller’s Ibrox career with both the striker and Lee Wallace fined and suspended by Rangers.
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There was a tacit nod to the difficulties of his time at Ibrox from Brown – “I’m sure he has been under managers he didn’t enjoy playing for,” – but the Celtic captain has tipped Miller to move on this term in his new role.
“I’m sure Kenny will bounce back from that,” said Brown. “He is a very strong-willed character and he will be looking at the opportunity to show what he can do as a player-manager. He’ll want to do it at the best level he possibly can. It’s a great start for him at Livingston and I’m sure he will show it.
“It’s a good thing for Scottish football. Kenny is a player who has come through and been great for the Scottish game to go out and manage as well.
“If I could do that, it would be great. But my focus just now is on playing football as long as I possibly can.
“Kenny still wants to play and believes he can play at the top level. I’m sure he will show it again this season.
“When we were coming through together with Scotland he always had that. He was always taking things in from all sorts of sessions. I think he’ll do a good job as a manager. He will probably want to play the right way as well. He has been at different clubs, he’s been at big clubs.”
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