Liam Scales: Brendan Rodgers' criticism causes 'hurt'

Celtic defender Liam Scales admits it hurt to hear manager Brendan Rodgers claim he was unsurprised by their poor performance in defeat by Hearts.

The Republic of Ireland international believes he and his team-mates will be stung into action by Rodgers' assessment when they host Livingston on Saturday.

It was a first domestic defeat at Celtic Park for almost three years but a second consecutive loss in the cinch Premiership – the first time the champions have lost back-to-back league games in more than a decade.

Celtic had already drawn at home to St Johnstone and Motherwell this season and Rodgers had revealed he was the angriest he had ever been as a manager when his side trailed in Perth weeks earlier.

Scales was among a small group of players Rodgers absolved of blame following Celtic’s 2-0 defeat by Hearts but he believes the assessment will spark them out of complacency.

Scales said: "I can see where he’s coming from. It’s not nice to hear but obviously performances haven’t been where they should probably be. He makes a good point.

"It does hurt as a player to hear that. We need to change that and not let that be the case again.

"We feel like sometimes we expect it to just happen. Just playing at home or against teams in the league, just expecting it to happen without going out and taking it by the horns and being aggressive and going and winning.

"We can’t just show up and that’s maybe where we need to brush up."

Defeats by Kilmarnock and Hearts have seen Celtic’s lead at the top of the table cut to two points.

Rangers have a game in hand and are unbeaten in 15 matches under Philippe Clement with the Viaplay Cup also back at Ibrox for the first time in 13 seasons.

Celtic fans are concerned about their team’s form, especially