Celtic suffered another damaging defeat in the Scottish Premiership against Heart of Midlothian and Chris Sutton didn’t hold back when assessing their performance at Tynecastle.
Celtic fall eight points behind in Scottish Premiership title race
Continuing a run of poor domestic performances, Celtic endured a second-half collapse in Sunday’s pivotal top-two clash to slip eight points behind Heart of Midlothian in the title race.
After falling behind courtesy of a Dane Murray own goal, Callum McGregor’s equaliser proved to be of scant consolation to a travelling support who were left frustrated as Alexandros Kyziridis and Lawrence Shankland put the seal on a deserved three points for the hosts.
Brendan Rodgers found himself under pressure before kick-off in the capital, and his side succumbed to a second-half collapse that will do little to appease the masses as the Bhoys continued an uncharacteristic start to the campaign, where they have looked out of sorts.
Cameron Carter-Vickers led a lengthy list of Celtic injuries that didn’t help their case at Tynecastle. However, his replacement, Murray, didn’t have a day to remember and may well now be a candidate to come out of the team before Wednesday’s clash with Falkirk at Parkhead.
Ultimately, Hearts sought control in the second 45 minutes and left the reigning champions with no answers, confirming back-to-back league defeats for the first time in almost two years.
Consistency levels at Celtic are usually sky high. Nevertheless, this term has been one of stark contrast, and fan fury at the hierarchy following a dismal summer transfer window will continue to make headlines.
Celtic’s next five fixtures under Brendan Rodgers
Falkirk (H)
Scottish Premiership
Rangers (N)
Premier Sports Cup
Midtjylland (A)
Europa League
Kilmarnock (H)
Scottish Premiership
St Mirren (A)
Scottish Premiership
Collectively, the Bhoys are falling way below expectation at the moment, and Sutton has now pointed out some of the key duties he believes they are simply failing to carry out.
Chris Sutton reacts to Celtic loss at Hearts
Taking to social media platform X after the final whistle, Sutton made clear that Hearts were far more streetwise, organised, and were far more productive in the forward areas, something he believes has been symptomatic of the clubs’ respective seasons.
The former Hoops striker believes that the team need to improve in those three aspects if they want to turn their season around to beat Hearts to the league title.
Making reference to the Irishman’s comments last week after Celtic fell to the hands of Dundee, all is not well at the Scottish champions and being eight points behind at this stage would’ve been unthinkable months ago, though Hearts have taken full advantage of their plight.
Undoubtedly, Derek McInnes and his side were all things that the Bhoys failed to produce at Tynecastle and have continued to generate momentum in an unbeaten start to the league season.
Celtic need to react swiftly against Falkirk and start to chalk up results on a regular basis. If they don’t, scrutiny on the manager and the boardroom will reach new heights.
