“I know Sam Johnstone’s just in the door, but I do believe Sam plays,” Scott Brown
James McFadden was adamant on Sky Sports on Wednesday night that Sam Johnstone would now be the first pick Celtic goalkeeper for the rest of this season after making an impressive debut in the 1-0 win over St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park…
Scott Brown sat beside the former Scotland star as he made that assessment and now the Celtic legend has agreed with that assessment at least as far as Sunday’s Premier Sports quarter final at Ibrox is concerned.
The former Celtic captain, who was speaking at a Premier Sports media event at Hampden yesterday, reckons that Johnstone’s experience in playing for England and in the Premier League makes him the favourite to get the gloves at Ibrox this weekend in a match where Celtic will be without the backing of their support inside the stadium.
“I know Sam Johnstone’s just in the door, but I do believe Sam plays,” Broony said.
“I think he” (Martin O’Neill) put Sam in on Wednesday to show that he can still do it, even though he got cramp. I’ve never seen that before! But when he was called upon, he did really, really well and made some big saves.”
The legendary Celtic skipper also praised Viljami Sinisalo who has take the gloves since Kasper Schmeichel had to call time on his playing career due to his ongoing shoulder problem. “Look, I think Sinisalo’s a good goalie, but at this moment in time, I do think Sam’s probably a better goalie and probably better settled for these big games.
“Sinisalo’s young. He’s still learning. You’ve seen Colby Donovan, Dane Murray, Auston Trusty and even Liam Scales, quite young, as in the amount of games they’ve played and the Rangers vs Celtic games that they’ve played in.
“So I think that experience, and obviously being down in England, playing in huge games, will definitely help that back four,” Scott Brown stated.
We’ll hear from Martin O’Neill this afternoon and he’s bound to be asked about his goalkeeping dilemma ahead of the Glasgow Derby on Sunday. He’ll probably say he has two quality keepers to choose from and that’s a nice position for any manager to have, ie he will give nothing away.
I reckon James McFadden and Broony are correct and Johnstone will get the nod for his experience down the road. That said Sinisalo has played at Ibrox several times now so has shown that he can handle it there. So who knows?
