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Former Celtic forward Chris Sutton is not convinced that his twelfth consecutive trophy is the catalyst for another successful season after rating his defense among the worst in club history.
Neil Lennon’s team achieved the quadruple hat-trick after beating Hearts 4-3 on penalties in last season’s delayed Scottish Cup final, but their defensive woes were in the open for all to see.
Hearts came off two goals against to force extra time and drew again in a dramatic 3-3 draw, with two of his goals coming from set pieces and another from center and header.
Goalkeeper Conor Hazard became a hero in his third appearance when he saved twice on penalties, but failed to convince by coming out of his line during the game after being preferred to Vasilis Barkas and Scott Bain.
Irish international Shane Duffy again had a steamy afternoon in central defense and Sutton feels the cup win will not have a massive impact on his faltering 2020-21 title run.
Sutton said: “I thought they were lucky. I didn’t think Hearts deserved to lose the final in any way, shape or form.
“And the hope now is that this team can move on. If I’m honest, I’m not convinced, because defensively it has been Celtic this afternoon that we have seen all season.”
“They don’t watch the games. He is possibly one of the worst defenses in the club’s history.”
Former Celtic boss Martin O’Neill, who won the treble with Sutton and Lennon on his team in 2001, admitted that his former team looked fragile at times.
But he urged them to use the win to refocus efforts on regaining the Rangers’ 16-point lead with Celtic now with three games in hand.
O’Neill commented: “I don’t see Celtic all the time, but enough to say that that performance, both halves, personified their game.
“There were great moments in the game where they were full of confidence and felt like they could beat anyone, and 2-0 up and absolutely galloping.
“They get a goal and instead of gasping and saying ‘OK, that’s a mistake, he’s gone’, fragility comes into their game. And the next thing you know, they’re holding on and Heart, like other rivals, has seen this. fragility and they go for it.
“That is what has happened on several occasions. Celtic have had great moments in matches, even in European matches for half an hour.
“But certainly now, they should put this aside. It’s great, the quadruple (triple), something that will never be achieved again, certainly not in my life, I can say with absolute certainty.
“They can try to move on. Yesterday was a big win for the Rangers, who made a big, big gap. But this competition is on the bench now and just do it, do it as much as you can. can do “.
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