Celtic fans would have been hoping that the win against Feyenoord gave the Hoops a much-needed boost and that their performances would improve moving forward. Unfortunately, that was not the case, not even close. Instead, Brendan Rodgers' side took several steps back, losing 2-0 at home at the hands of Hearts.
The result means that if the Rangers win their two games in hand, they would be leading Celtic in the league. Just a couple of months back, the Ibrox club were 7 points behind.
This is not because they have been brilliant either. Philippe Clement's side have been decent at best. But unfortunately, Celtic have dropped points left, right and centre.
Over the last 5 games, Celtic have dropped 8 points. Not good enough by any stretch of the imagination. And questions are now being asked about Rodgers as well.
Chris Sutton makes blunt claim about Celtic boss after loss
On one hand, it is easy to recognise that Celtic did not have a good summer transfer window. The fact that Maik Nawrocki, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio and Yang Hyun-jun were all left out of the squad against Hearts tells you everything you need to know.
Luis Palma is the only one who has gotten consistent playing time. And after a bright start, the Honduran winger seems to be fading away as well.
At the same time, Chris Sutton believes that Rodgers needs to doing better with the players he has available to him. The former Celtic striker tweeted:
You can blame the board, you can blame the lack of atmosphere because of the Green Brigade not being at matches, you can blame the recruitment but ultimately Brendan Rodgers should be doing much better with the players he has at his disposal… it’s been bang average all season.
— Chris Sutton (@chris_sutton73) December 16, 2023
One would expect someone with Rodgers' experience to be able to get the best out of the options available to him. Yes, Jota and Carl Starfelt left in the summer, but other than that, this is a squad full of treble winners.
Some struggles were expected, but not to this extend. Here's one interesting fact, Celtic had more points after 18 league games in the 2020/21 season than they do now.