Celtic defender Liam Scales admits it hurt to hear manager Brendan Rodgers claim he was unsurprised by their poor performance in the defeat by Hearts.
The Irishman believes he and his team-mates will be stung into action by Rodgers’ assessment when they host Livingston on Saturday.
It’s a first domestic defeat at Celtic Park in nearly three years, but a second successive defeat in the Premiership – the first time the champions have lost back-to-back league games in more than a decade.
Celtic had already drawn at home to St Johnstone and Motherwell this season and Rodgers had revealed he was angrier than ever as a manager when his team were trailing in Perth a few weeks earlier.
Scales is part of a small organisation of players Rodgers absolved of blame after Celtic’s 2-0 loss to Hearts, but he believes the assessment will bring them out of complacency.
Scales said, “I can see where it’s coming from. It’s not good to hear, but it’s evident that the functionality hasn’t been where it’s probably been. It has a clever point.
“As a player it hurts to hear that. We want to replace that and not allow this to happen again. “
“We feel like sometimes we expect it to just happen. Just playing at home or against teams in the league, just expecting it to happen without going out and taking it by the horns and being aggressive and going and winning.
“We can’t just show up and that’s maybe where we need to brush up.”
Defeats to Kilmarnock and Hearts reduced Celtic’s lead at the top of the table to two points.
Rangers have a game in hand and are unbeaten in 15 matches under Philippe Clement with the Viaplay Cup also back at Ibrox for the first time in 13 seasons.
Celtic fans are concerned about their team’s form, especially with a game against Rangers to come on December 30 before Rodgers has the chance to strengthen his squad.
However, Scales is confident that he will soon be back to his best.
“It’s been a week to sort it out,” the Irish foreigner said when the club announced that the Celtic FC Foundation’s Christmas campaign had raised £397,000 for charities in Scotland and Ireland.
“We’re recovering and we know we have to recover. We’re racing hard to get it done. We had a week to prepare, which is with the schedule we have. We used the week well to review things and tweak things for long-running games.
“We know he’s not smart enough for Celtic. There’s tension and you know you have to win games and anything, but a win isn’t enough. Over the course of a season, it’s not disastrous, if we bounce back and do it. “Well, it’ll be fine, but it’s been a tough week and we just want to sort it out now.
“It is in our hands to rectify the situation. It’s a small incident of the season and we have to take the step and triumph over it. It’s not a total disaster. “
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