Celtic can't bank on Rangers bottle jobs as criminal defending could yet see rivals steal Premiership title

It wasn’t a good afternoon for the blood pressure for anyone associated with Celtic.

And if Saturday’s Hampden rollercoaster is anything to go by, they might need an industrial sized tub of valium for the rest of the title race. A glance at the crowd after the shootout yesterday was telling. There was no outlandish celebration or joyous sing songs. Instead, Hoops fans looked absolutely gubbed. It was like they were completely drained after being put through the wringer for more than two hours.

Aberdeen fans were on their feet hailing the efforts of their side. Celtic supporters were on their knees, gasping for air. Celtic got the job done against Aberdeen – eventually – but this was a reminder to punters who this week got the feeling green and white ribbons were already being tied to the Premiership trophy. This is not done yet, especially with a Celtic defence that’s only managed two clean sheets in their last 10 games.

There’s no doubt Brendan Rodgers ’ side are in the box seat. The outbreak of bed wetting across the city means the league is theirs to lose now. But while fans would have needed to lie in a darkened room after the Hampden mayhem, this should also be a massive wake up call.

In fairness to Rodgers, he did say before the Dons game there was nothing won yet and this was no time to get soft. The problem he’s got though is his backline continues to look a tad squishy.

Aberdeen exposed it again at Hampden. Celtic seem to go in to sheer panic whenever a rival side lobs over a cross ball. Twice they got punished at times when they should have been seeing out the game.

It was criminal to concede the exact same goal on both occasions, with the same problems. Failure to stop the ball in, failure to cover the