After the Ibrox celebrations die down a little, Celtic fans will have a number of concerns about the champions elect.
The game at Ibrox turned out to be rather predictable, fortunately Celtic’s forwards were able to cover up better for their blundering defenders better than the home side.
At the back the main culprit was Dedryck Boyata. Three times he was caught out, one led to a goal, Scott Bain saved a shot from Alfredo Morelos and the other slip led to nothing.
At times it was like a flashback to the Champions League group matches but fortunately Alfredo Morelos isn’t yet at that level.
Next season’s Champions League qualification process will be brutal and demanding, Celtic won’t get away with the type of defending that was on show at Ibrox.
Looking back at the action Sutton wrote in the Daily Record: “Celtic’s defensive play cost them in Europe and it’s a problem domestically. They have to improve because it’s simply not good enough at the back.
“Brendan Rodgers said he was concerned about Marvin Compper’s lack of fitness but I don’t know what Dedryck Boyata was thinking throughout yesterday’s game.
“I know he hadn’t played in more than a month and was thrown back in at the deep end but the Belgian had an absolute shocker. He was all over the place when you just don’t take chances.
“Jozo Simunovic was dragged about while Jamie Murphy, who is clever and cute, exploited Kristoffer Ajer in his position ?as a makeshift right-back.”
SUTTON ON BAIN
Scott Bain was an unlikely hero of Celtic’s Ibrox win, in his first appearance as a Celtic player.
Dorus de Vries turned his ankle in training on Saturday which opened the door to the keeper who is on loan from Dundee after a brief spell at Hibs.
His first job was to pick the ball out of the net after three minutes but with the pressure on in the second half he never wilted.
Sutton said: “Thankfully Scott Bain showed massive bollocks in a game like that.
“I was really impressed with him coming into such a big game at such short notice ?and he could have made the gloves his own in front of Dorus de Vries.
“Bain needs a run of games but was a big positive ?considering Celtic’s vulnerability at the back. The 26-year-old made a good save from Alfredo Morelos in one of Rangers’ squandered chances while there were even little things like a free-kick he caught when most goalkeepers would have tried to punch it.”
SUTTON ON THE RED CARD
With a victory racked up Brendan Rodgers opted out of questioning the sending off of Jozo Simunovic.
‘Giving the referee a decision to make’ doesn’t appear in the Laws of the Game, the same wasn’t said about the brutal attacks by Sean Goss and Fabio Cardosa on Kieran Tierney and Moussa Dembele.
Morelos recovered from the incident with Simunovic but probably wished he was elsewhere after missing an 88th minute sitter to level the scores.
Sutton said: “It didn’t help when Simunovic was sent off just before the hour but I must say I didn’t believe it should have been a red card.
“I didn’t think he threw his arm as such but he gave the officials a decision to make. Willie Collum didn’t have a particularly good game in what is a difficult fixture to referee.
“But it was his assistant who made the call in the end and I don’t know why Simunovic put himself in that position at that stage in the game. That was naive but so too are Celtic at the back.”