Celtic skipper Scott Brown has backed Leigh Griffiths to rediscover his best form after making the "brave" call to withdraw from Scotland duty.

Griffiths has pulled out of the Scots' upcoming double-header to focus on his fitness over the international break.

National team boss Alex McLeish said he won't throw the Hoops attacker "under the bus", but did admit he'd be unable to guarantee Griffiths game time unless he's performing strongly.

Brown praised Griffiths for recognising he needs to concentrate on getting in peak condition, and says he wishes he had made the same move a couple of times during his international career.

"It's brave of the wee man to do that," said Brown. "He wants to work on his fitness, he wants to come in here and do better.

"Maybe going away with Scotland, he's not going to get the game time that he would maybe expect and the training wouldn't be as hard with the two games coming up.

"I think he wants to get back to as sharp as he possibly can, with the Hibs game coming up too.

"Scotland and Celtic need Leigh as fit as he can be for the whole season.

"I think he's done best thing for him at the moment, to work on that and get himself as sharp as possible.

"As soon as he does he's the best striker in Scotland by far.

"Leigh will go on and have a great Scotland career and score a lot more goals."

Brown skippered Scotland during the World Cup qualifier against England last year, a fixture that saw Griffiths' fire home two free-kicks to put the Scots on the brink of victory.

The Hoops captain reckons the forward deserves praise, and not flak, given his contribution over the years.

On the England draw, Brown added: "We relied on the wee man quite a lot and he produced.

"Yet again, he gets the ball down, two free kicks into the top corner.

"People forget about that, that's what Leigh does and will get back to.

"We need to stop giving him a lot of flak and start praising him for what he has done over the last three or four years for Celtic and for Scotland."

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has been linked with the vacant managerial position at Aston Villa.

Brown said any interest in the Northern Irishman would come as no surprise given Rodgers' success since moving north of the border.

He said: "The gaffer is always going to get job offers because he's a top manager.

"What he has done in Scotland has been exceptional.

"It's amazing more people haven't come in because of what he has done at Liverpool and Celtic.

"He loves this club, he wants to be here and here's hoping he can stay here for a little bit longer."