It would be easier for Celtic to swallow if yesterday’s defeat at Kilmarnock had come hurtling at them, entirely out of the blue.
But the more awkward truth is that this one could be seen coming all the way from the other end of the M77, on a day when neither the manager nor his players were up to the challenge thrown at them by the home side and guilty of a collective capitulation.
If Brendan Rodgers was apoplectic in Perth the other week when his team forgot to turn up for work against St Johnstone, then he must have felt incandescent in Ayrshire throughout a second half performance which started horribly and grew progressively worse from that point onwards.
He may have bitten his tongue this time in the immediate aftermath of the first top flight defeat of his second stint in charge.
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