Chris Sutton accuses Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers of going through the motions as icon turfs out excuses

Chris Sutton has accused Brendan Rodgers of “going through the motions” on his Celtic return this season and told the Irishman the excuse of a lack of quality players WON’T wash for his side being FLAT.

The former Hoops striker hero pulled no punches with a scathing assessment of where his old club are right now after rivals Rangers picked up the first piece of domestic silverware of the season and closed the gap to just two points at the top of the Scottish Premiership with the Light Blues having played a game less. Rodgers saw his Celtic side lose 2-0 to Hearts last weekend for the club’s first successive league losses in over a decade after the previous week’s reverse at Kilmarnock.

Rodgers has frequently pleaded for more quality but Sutton said: “At the moment this Celtic team are disjointed and going through the motions. And there’s a fair argument to suggest Brendan Rodgers has been going through the motions this season. I also think the words which he used after the Hearts game in his interview about players lacking passion and desire - is that now his responsibility as manager to put out a motivated team? I think it is and he has to take a far greater share of the blame and far greater responsibility than he has done.

“There’s a lot of mud flying around at the board and a certain section of the support haven’t been allowed into the stadium. People can use those as excuses but the fact of the matter is that the team hasn’t performed on the pitch this season as well as they should have done. He’s taken over a different situation because Ange Postecoglou’s team were fast and furious and this season under Brendan Rodgers it has been flat.

“Celtic weren’t prepared for the Champions League and should have been.