Chris Sutton has dubbed Celtic 'fragile' as they continue to struggle through a difficult campaign. The Bhoys are preparing for a defining Europa League clash with Besiktas on Thursday night, likely needing to win to stay in the competition.
Martin O'Neill's men are yet to pick up a single point in Europe, and they have left themselves with a lot to do going into the final five games, two of which include games with Besiktas and Marseille, who are significantly superior to the Bhoys.
Celtic also go into this game on the back of a league defeat to Falkirk, and they are now two without a win in the league after also drawing with Dundee United last week.
"Celtic are fragile, you can't get away from that," Sutton said on The Warm Up. "And if you go back through previous seasons. Rodgers as manager, Ange Postecoglou as manager, well of course Kilmarnock could beat Celtic, but highly unlikely, but there's something about this Celtic team where we can't honestly say we sat at Falkirk and thought that was a great surprise, Falkirk beating Celtic.
"We can't we can't honestly say, chatting to you before we covered the Hearts-Rangers game at Tynecastle, I think you might have said it wouldn't be a great surprise Celtic dropping points home to Dundee United, and I think everybody feels the same way. So there are issues which can only be addressed in January in terms of playing personnel."
Celtic are stuck in a jam
Thanks to the inefficient recruitment strategy put together by the board in January. Key issues were not addressed, and so O'Neill is stuck with a squad that is not good enough to compete in Europe.
His midfield is being bullied consistently by more powerful and quicker midfields, and there are no options within this squad that can bridge that gap. Is there a way to tactically cater for the issue? Potentially. But O'Neill has not found it, and it is more than likely we are not going to see progress until January, provided the Bhoys actually do invest in their midfield then.
The reality is that there are personnel issues that O'Neill has not got the answers for, and arguably won't be able to find the answers for. That's down to the board, and everyone knew it was the case going into the window and when the window closed.
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