Timid and weak- Sutton’s Celtic Champions League criticism goes in deep

No-one ever accused Chris Sutton’s Celtic team-mates of being weak and timid. If they tried that they’d be put right in no uncertain terms.

Sure winning away from home in the Champions League proved elusive but on home soil Porto, Rosenborg, Juventus, Lyon and Anderlecht went home pointless while Bayern Munich celebrated a 0-0 draw against Martin O’Neill’s side.

Twenty years on Celtic are struggling to win a point at home never mind the elusive away victory with the statistics starting to weigh heavily on the current group of players.

Every match is now surrounded by details of long running failures with one group stage win in a decade something that would be unthinkable in Sutton’s dressing room.

Normally the former Celtic striker is upbeat and positive about his old club but in the Daily Record he doesn’t shirk from the issues:

Celtic look weak and timid in the Champions League. Worryingly for them, I’m beginning to wonder if others aren’t scared of them on the home front anymore and they are losing some of their own fear factor.

Brendan Rodgers might not be able to fix the first one of those but the manager definitely needs to find a way to quickly reinstate the second because the club are walking a tightrope at the moment and can’t afford to stumble. Let’s deal with Europe first. Given the fallout from the Champions League exit, we’ve heard all the predictable statements following the similarity predictable outcome in Rome.

Celtic’s defeat to Lazio was just another in the long line of setbacks which have come my old club’s way on the continent. Rodgers spoke afterwards about needing to add quality to the ranks to compete at that level and that is obvious. Trouble is, how much do you need? Quite frankly, clubs have spent tens of millions to try and make an impact and failed.

The last part is easily answered by a look at the performances of Copenhagen, Feyenoord and Shakhtar Donetsk are faring this season.

All of them have victories to their name and go into Matchday 6 with realistic prospects of playing in the Europa League.

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City are certainly out of reach but better planning and spending should avoid the current record of three points from Celtic’s last 11 matches.