CELTIC midfielder Stefan Johansen has admitted he is struggling for form as the Norwegian media labelled him a flop.
Many newspapers gave him a rating of two or three out of 10 as his nation’s Euro 2016 dream died with a play-off defeat against Hungary.
The Hungarians are on their way to France in the summer after they won 2-1 in Budapest to claim a 3-1 aggregate victory.
Johansen said: “I can’t blame injuries alone for my poor form this season. I’m not the type of guy who would use that as an excuse. But I’ll be honest and say I haven’t been playing to the standard that is required.
“When the results are bad you will face criticism from fans and the media, but the criticism doesn’t bother me too much. It’s a part of the game.
“The people around me – family and friends – are more worried about it. They fear I might take it personally, but I don’t.
“We have to take this one on the chin. We can only apologise to the Norwegian people. We take full responsibility for these results, but our coach Per-Mathias Hogmo should stay in the job.
“Even though fans in Norway are disappointed now, he has the backing of the players. He can’t go on the pitch and do the running. The players, myself included, have to take the responsibility. We cannot blame the coach for these defeats.”
Johansen is suspended for Celtic’s crucial must win Europa League match with Ajax alongside Nir Bitton who was sent off in the hugely disappointing 2-1 home defeat against Molde. If Celtic can beat Ajax they travel to Turkey knowing a win will take them through to the knock-out stages.
Stranger things…
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The new look CQN Bookstore is now up and running and you can order your copy of THE WINDS OF CHANGE exclusively from HERE. The books will be posted out on Thursday. This is the best CQN book yet so don’t miss out and please check out the CQN Bookstore for the best Celtic books and DVDs. We will be added more items shortly.
Following on from Caesar & The Assassin, we continue the dramatic story of managing Celtic after Jock Stein. Both Billy McNeill and Davie Hay were kind enough to write forewords for THE WINDS OF CHANGE as these Celtic legends passed on the task of managing our club to eight men during the period we cover here, 1991 to 2005.
Brady, Macari, the great Tommy Burns, Wim Jansen, Dr Venglos, Barnes and Dalglish are all covered extensively before we get to Martin O’Neill. The book finishes with a late amendment, written by Paul Brennan, where he puts into context what Celtic were actually up against during this period.
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