| Strachan has confidence in Mark Brown
GORDON STRACHAN has lauded Mark Brown for his professionalism and believes the goalkeeper will let nobody down while deputising for Artur Boruc over the next few weeks.
The Celtic manager confirmed that his Polish No.1, who should be available for Saturday’s visit of Motherwell, will have a knee operation on Monday. At present, there is no set timescale for his return, although it’s not thought to be too serious.
In Boruc’s brief absence, Brown will step into the breach and the manager spoke of his faith in the experienced back-up goalkeeper – widely considered to be one of the hardest-working players at the club.
He said: “Artur will have an operation on Monday. We don’t know how long he’ll be out for at the moment, it all depends on how long it takes him to recover. It’s a blow but we’re used to that with all our injuries.
“Mark will come into the team and he’s ready for it. I’ve never seen a player prepare as well for an opportunity as Mark has. He has left no stone unturned.
“Over the last five or six months, Mark has been an incredible professional for us. He has got himself ready and will have no fears when he plays. He knows that there is nothing else he can do to prepare.”
Boruc will join Aiden McGeady, Georgios Samaras, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Marc Crosas, Chris Killen, Glenn Loovens and Joe Doumbe on an ever-increasing Celtic injury list, but the manager refuses to get himself down about it –“It’s not perfect but we get on with it”.
Instead, he preferred to dwell on the positives and spoke of his pride at Celtic’s last three performances, which brought two wins against Kilmarnock, Hearts and a battling draw against Man United.
He said: “I’m proud of the way the boys have played recently. I was proud of the game at Rugby Park last week, I was proud of the different type of football at Tynecastle. And I was proud of the way they stuck at it against Man United.
“I’ll say again that they are miles ahead of us. If we had some of our technical players who were injured on the pitch, then it would have taken us up a level and made it more interesting. But in terms of commitment, resilience and team spirit…that was 100 per cent.
“It was a crash-course in management the other night. When we set out at the start of the Champions League, we thought we would have Vennegoor of Hesselink, Samaras, Crosas, McGeady and Loovens all available.
“When they aren’t available, you have to think again. We had to take on this giant of a club with people missing. Technically, it meant we went down a level. In terms of spirit, I couldn’t have asked for more.
“In the last half-hour, I couldn’t get Nakamura on the pitch because we needed more physical players to cope with the defending. Had Jan or Sammy been out there, I would have played Naka. It was a balancing act.”
The manager will go up against close friend Mark McGhee when Celtic entertain Motherwell at Celtic Park and he knows how dangerous the Steelmen can be when they are at the top of their game.
However, he refuted any suggestions that fatigue will hinder Celtic’s chances of getting another three SPL points, stressing that the fit members of his squad are in peak condition.
He said: “We will be fine in terms of energy. We have great fitness, great spirit and there will be no problems on that score. Everyone was looking good in training, apart from Neil Lennon!
“The injuries are just something we have to deal with. It happens sometimes. If everyone had been fit, I would have made a few changes but that’s not the case.”
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Stand Up For The Champions!  | 
Strachan has confidence in Mark Brown
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