SCOTT BROWN acknowledges some of his Celtic team-mates are targets for the boot boys in Scottish football.
Concerned boss Brendan Rodgers flagged up some recent rough treatment for his players – notably Kieran Tierney and Scott Sinclair.
The Hoops skipper said: “I think people are getting annoyed with us continually winning. It does get frustrating – I’ve been there before myself.
“When people are fighting to get three points and you are two or three-nil up, you keep the ball. There’s always going to be late tackles.
“I’ve been there against Barcelona when I’ve been one or two seconds too late.
“I have been on the end of five or six-nil, and you don’t get a touch of the ball for three or four minutes and your body gets tired.
“I know how it feels.
“It’s happened a few times to us. Some of them have been quite bad, the ones on KT and Scotty in the past couple of games, in particular.
“We just need to make sure that everyone is all right and keep the safety of the game.
“Refs say they always welcome a chat, but I try not to speak to them and stay focused on the game.”
Brown added: “The gaffer is right when he said we are men. We’re a team that can play nice, attractive football or can get mixed in. We’ve a lot of boys who can do that, as well.
“If teams want to do that against us we can certainly do that back, but not in a nasty way or a way in which you are going to injure people – 50/50 that you go through, but win the ball.
“The way we are trying to go is so continue to try and win games, to keep the ball as long as possible.
“Teams are camping in against us. The more we keep the ball, the more we tire them out.
“The more we tire them out, the more chance of late tackles and red cards and stuff.
“As I say, I’ve been on the other end of that before and I know that it’s not great at times.”
