Celtic anxiety has been triggered by dropping points in pedestrian fashion with Rangers genuinely on their shoulder

A few brave pills are maybe required before attempting to contradict Brendan Rodgers but it’s throwing caution to the wind time.

There are fundamental issues of disagreement of a post-match assessment from the Celtic boss as he dissected his team’s draw with Motherwell. The Irishman knew it was an uninspired display lacking in final third finesse but his assertion that his players had circulated the ball well was a concerning aside and maybe therein lies a problem.

Possession being nine tenths of the law has never applied to football and patience being a virtue is also true but not when it means you barely land a punch against a Motherwell side, who arrived knowing a draw or defeat would see them hitting double figures without a win. Celtic ’s slow and predictable build-up play allowed the Fir Park side to regroup and fall into position with their deep defensive barrier given all too frequent breathers.

It’s clearly churlish to be over-critical of a team which is 14 games into their Premiership campaign and have yet to suffer a defeat but picking fault is also a prerogative. Safe and sidewards passing towards both flanks and back inside again was a feature of Celtic’s lacklustre approach against Stuart Kettlewell’s men and one was left wondering if wingers Luis Palma and Yang Hyun-jun were working under the instruction not to get to the byline or beat players.

Both were careless with their final ball and not enough demands were placed on either man to get at their opponent and it all added up to Kyogo being starved of service. The stats men had been counting the Japanese striker’s first half touches and one hand was required which tells a worrying story.

A home game against a struggling Motherwell and the Hoops main