Chris Sutton isn’t buying into the Celtic team being tired- not a bit of it.
As soon as the final whistle blew against Sevco on Saturday tiredness was cited as the main cause of two lost points.
There is no denying that the fixture list has been heavy- the price of success- but most players have had spells on the sidelines with rotation used across the majority of positions.
Contradicting the tiredness argument was the form of Scott Brown who was as energetic and dominating as ever as one memorable clash with Jason Holt demonstrated.
While most pundits prefer to shy away from the big issues, especially involving their former clubs, Sutton prefers to wade right into the main talking points and couldn’t have been more blunt about Saturday’s display.
“It’s not just Celtic who are tired, I’m tired about hearing how tired Celtic are this season,” he introduced his Daily Record column with.
“When you say something often enough you start to believe it and that has been part of the problem at Parkhead in recent weeks.
“They have talked so much about how fatigued they are feeling it’s a wonder how they managed to stay awake for 90 minutes at the weekend.
“It wasn’t tiredness that cost them points against Rangers– it was a poor performance. Everything else was just excuses.”
Turning to the position that he understands best the former Chelsea striker added: “Being weary is certainly not a problem for the strikers – they have the opposite problems.
“You can’t be too critical of Brendan Rodgers at Celtic but for me he has killed his frontmen this term.
“He hasn’t hung his hat on any of them and as a result none of them look properly up to speed.
“I feel sorry for Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele. You can’t expect either of them to get in to any sort of rhythm when neither are getting a run of games in the side.
“No wonder they look off it at the moment, they’ve not had a chance to get that sharpness that every striker will tell you that they need.”
After nine matches during December Celtic aren’t inaction until the 20th of January when the host Brechin City in the Scottish Cup with the SPFL campaign resuming three days later away to Partick Thistle followed by home matches against Hibs and Hearts.
