Brendan Rodgers refused to use the absence of Callum McGregor as an excuse for Celtic’s display as they lost at home to Rangers for the first time in five years.
With the skipper unable to play due to a calf issue, the home side failed to get going in the first half and found themselves two goals down at the break.
An improved second-half display saw Celtic bounce back to level terms, only for more defensive errors to let Hamza Igamane seal a 3-2 win for interim manager Barry Ferguson.
While Rodgers felt McGregor’s presence was missed, he claimed those who were available to him didn’t perform to the level he expected.
‘I think we missed Callum today,’ he said. ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt in that.
‘I mentioned before about the tactical balance he gives the team. He’s the guy that opens up everything for us. His movement, his quality, his touch gets us through the pitch nice and quickly.
Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers admits that his team were not as fluid without Callum McGregor
Cameron Carter-Vickers buries his face in his shirt after Celtic’s 3-2 defeat by Rangers
‘So, you could see it wasn’t anywhere near as fluid. That’s the reality. But others have to step up because, if he’s not playing, then we need to be better.’
Celtic remain 13 points ahead in the title race, and Rodgers was adamant that his team’s comfortable position in the Premiership couldn’t be cited as a reason for the performance.
‘There’s no excuse,’ he added. ‘If it’s a one-point gap or 16, there’s no excuse.
‘We didn’t defend well enough. We weren’t sharp enough mentally in the game, with and without the ball. If you don’t (defend well), a good team can punish you.’
The Celtic manager was irked at the manner in which his side conceded the goals to Nicolas Raskin, Mohamed Diomande and Igamane.
‘I think all three goals were positions we should have had better control in,’ he said.
‘It’s just clarity of thinking. The corner, we were in a good position. The young guy Raskin, he’s done it a few times, he’s quick across the ground and gets the contact. But we’re goal-side, so we have to deal with that better.
‘The second one the ball goes back and we’ve got to open up the pitch quicker. We end up with it going out for a throw-in for them. So, we’re in control of that.
‘The third one is a punt up the pitch, miss the first header, slip. In fairness, the guy finishes it really well. But we can deal with those things much better.
‘It’s just one of those days that you have sometimes. The first half was not so good. Second half, we got the early goal, a really good goal.
‘From there, it looked like we’re the team in the ascendancy and could go on to win the game.
‘We got to 2-2 and there was a good feeling, good energy in the stadium. I just hoped for us to go on and take the next steps to get the goals.
‘Jack Butland made some great saves but, if you can’t win it, then don’t lose it.’
Celtic have now conceded three goals in each of their past three meetings with Rangers.
‘Yeah, that’s something to think about, for sure,’ said Rodgers. ‘I mentioned that afterwards.
‘You need to be better. You need to be defensively much better, much more secure. But also part of that comes from giving the ball away and not dominating it like we do.
‘You hand a little bit of onus to the opposition.’
Cameron Carter-Vickers vowed that Celtic would respond to the latest reverse to Rangers — just as they did when defeated at Ibrox in January.
After losing the festive clash 3-0, Brendan Rodgers’ side won six and drew one of their next seven league games to put themselves within touching distance of the title.
Raskin scores the first of three goals that led Rodgers to question his team’s defending
Having suffered just a third league defeat in 30 games, the defender urged his team-mates to dust themselves down in the same manner and close out a 13th title in 14 years in style.
‘That’s what we’re going to do every game,’ said the American international. ‘We’re going to look to perform well and win.
‘We’ve got an international break now but, after that, our focus will be on the next league game.
‘We’ve got a comfortable lead in the table and that’s good. That shows the good work we’ve done up to this point. But we definitely want to continue until the end of the season.
‘Our performance today was not good enough — and we’ve got to improve.’
Despite the enviable position Celtic are still in, Carter-Vickers could take little solace from a rare bad day at the office.
‘You want to be as many points ahead as you can be,’ he said. ‘That doesn’t mean that you can lose games of football.
‘We know that. We never want to lose and we always try and win and perform well.
‘I don’t think there’s really a mindset switch from us at all. We’re aware of the points gap, but we want to add to that if anything. Obviously, that wasn’t the case today.’
Having bounced back from being two goals down at half-time, Carter-Vickers felt sure Celtic would go on to win the game.
‘That’s the way it looked,’ he said. ‘Obviously, we know in these games anything can happen.
‘We’ve got to defend the third goal better. But, second half, it was definitely us who were the team looking to score.
‘We were 2-0 down, we’ve got to go for it. It made them feel like they can sit back and contain.
‘Even when it went to 2-2, I thought we were probably the team trying to score the winner. But it just didn’t come.’
