Nat Phillips Celtic gripe escalated on 2 fronts as fans suffer Carter Vickers deja vu with injury answer

Celtic suffered a fright over star defender Cameron Carter-Vickers as punters served up a dose of deja-vu over a potential injury.

Fans are hoping the USA international won't be out for long as boss Brendan Rodgers removed him at half time en route to a 4-1 win over Hibs. The Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said: “Cam felt his hamstring. He hasn’t done it. He felt he could continue but I didn’t want to take any risks with him. That just protects him."

But eagle-eyed Parkhead punters couldn't help but remember the update the Irishman shared the last time Carter-Vickers exited a game for a precautionary a measure. Back in August, after taking his key man off against Aberdeen, Rodgers said: "Hopefully he's (Carter-Vickers) ok. He felt his hamstring a little bit so we just have to assess that and we didn't want to put any risk on it." Carter-Vickers would miss six weeks of action before returning against Lazio in October.

Fans are desperate for good news as his replacement Nat Phillips failed to earn favourable reviews for his second half appearance against the Hibees. The Liverpool loanee will likely regret not showing Elie Youan inside – as Tomoki Iwata screamed for him to do - which led to Christian Doidge's consolation.

But it's Phillips' use of the ball which has Celtic fans unconvinced with many taking to social media to note similarities to Shane Duffy when in possession. And now he could be in line to feature regularly if Carter-Vickers' hamstring complaint leads to a spell on the sidelines.

And the other Celtic gripe Phillips is railing against is the frustration over £7.3million of permanent defensive talent unable to make the matchday squad. Gustaf Lagerbielke and the returning Maik Nawrocki are fit and available