LEE JOHNSON has claimed that players are “brainwashed” into believing they are defeated before playing Celtic or The Rangers.
Celtic ran rampant at the weekend, thrashing Hibs 6-1, and, in all honesty, it could’ve and probably should’ve been more.
The former Sunderland manager has expressed his amazement that The Rangers hadn’t been beaten by Motherwell for more than 20 years, a stat he admitted he wasn’t used to. But to claim players are “brainwashed” into thinking they can’t beat the big two is a step too far.
When Celtic or The Rangers come to town, teams step up their game and try to make themselves hard to beat. You only have to look back a couple of weeks to see Celtic soundly beaten by St Mirren.
In full, Lee Johnson said; [SunSport]
“I spoke to a couple of psychologists, and I realised these guys have probably been beaten by these teams year on year since they were eight.
“You practically come out of the womb and you’re told Celtic and Rangers are amazing.
“Someone told me Motherwell haven’t beaten Rangers in the league in 20 years — crazy. I’m not used to that sort of thing.
“I thought about the players who have been in Scotland a long time and this brainwashing.
“A couple of actions happened in the first 10 minutes or so and that was it. It was as if they collectively said, ‘Here we go. They are playing well today, we’re not’.”
The Rangers’ youth teams were in action this weekend; all of them were beaten by Hibs, which sparked Lee Johnson’s comments.
He’s partly right. Celtic are expected to beat every team in the league; that’s the reality of it. But, the use of the word brainwash is poorly worded and too strong.
Despite his “brainwashed” claim, the manager admits Celtic deserved their win at the weekend;
“Let’s not take away from Celtic, who have fantastic individual brilliance and they are a fantastic team.
“But we’re not 6-1 away from them. Last Saturday we were, and it could have been 10.”
