WOULD Scotland be joining the seven other teams in the Russia 2018 play-off draw in Zurich tomorrow afternoon if Scott Brown had been available for their final double header earlier this month?
And will having the midfielder back in the starting line-up in Germany on Wednesday ensure that Celtic avoid the sort of flat and error-strewn performance which they produced in his absence at the weekend?
The answer to the first question is a matter of opinion. And the second? Time will tell. But the importance of the 32-year-old to both his country and his club has certainly been driven home of late in the games he has missed either due to injury or because he was being rested.
Darren Fletcher performed well for the national team in the matches against Slovakia and Slovenia. The ball-winning capabilities, physicality and leadership qualities of his compatriot, though, were certainly missed in both matches, the latter especially. It could all have ended so differently had he been involved.
At Celtic Park on Saturday the Scottish champions were a pale imitation of their usual selves without him dictating play and driving those around him on despite fielding two individuals who cost in the region of £8 million in the centre of the park for the visit of Dundee.
Eboue Kouassi and Olivier Ntcham, who scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game in the second half, couldn’t be accused of a lack of effort, but the exclusion of Brown led directly to a decidedly mediocre display.
Had Neil McCann’s side been sharper in the final third, had stand-in goalkeeper Dorus de Vries not enjoyed such an exceptional game, had referee Andrew Dallas awarded the visitors not one but two penalties, then the final outcome could have been quite different.
The Ntcham strike, a swerving long-range lash which eluded Scott Bain before coming to rest in the bottom right corner of the net, meant the home team extended their unbeaten domestic run to 59 games and maintained their lead over Aberdeen at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership on goal difference.
But the Parkhead club were far from at their best with their talismanic skipper sitting watching proceedings in the stands. Exactly the same had been true in the 2-2 draw with Hibernian before the international break.
He wasn’t the only first team regular left out by Brendan Rodgers. Craig Gordon, Mikael Lustig, Jozo Simunovic, Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and Moussa Dembele were all given the weekend off ahead of the Champions League game with Bayern Munich in the Allianz Arena in midweek. Their collective return will doubtless see a vastly-improved showing.
But that Brown is the heartbeat of this Celtic team has been underlined in the games he has not been involved in of late.
The chances of Rodgers’s men getting a result, even a draw, against Bayern in their third Group B outing are minimal despite the point they picked up on the last occasion they took on a Bundesliga club away, Borussia Moenchengladbach last season, in Europe.
Their opponents, emphatic 5-0 winners over struggling Freiburg at home on Saturday, can field world class footballers in every area of the field. At the weekend, they had Mats Hummels in defence, Arjen Robben in midfield and Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller up front. They are fourth favourites to triumph in the Champions League behind only Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona with good reason.
Having Brown back, though, gives them a far better chance of competing in a match which is important to the treble winners’ chances of being involved in continental competition beyond Christmas.
The man who is being honoured with a testimonial match at the club he has represented with distinction for 10 years now inspires those around him with both his deeds and his words. It will be a surprise if Celtic are so devoid of urgency, so sloppy with their passing and so lacking in ruthlessness up front.
Kieran Tierney, who donned the captain’s armband once again at the weekend, is a logical successor to Brown and can’t be criticised for the off day. Patrick Roberts was one of few players to excelled going forward.
It is said that a good team wins when playing badly. That was certainly the case at the weekend. De Vries, playing in his first game in over a year, denied Paul McGowan, Roarie Deacon and Faissal El-Bakhtaoui with outstanding saves in the second half. But Lewandowski, Muller and Robben will be far more clinical.
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