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Celtic manager Neil Lennon questioned his players’ hunger and said he “can’t defend them” after the Scottish Premiership’s 2-2 draw with Hibernian.
Odsonne Edouard and Diego Laxalt scored late to fight a point away.
But Celtic have won two of eight matches in all competitions and will be 11 points behind leading Rangers, although they have played two fewer matches, if Ibrox’s team defeat Aberdeen on Sunday.
“I don’t know if they’ve lost their hunger a bit,” Lennon said.
“We need to get that back and fast. I saw a lot in the last 20 minutes, but we gave ourselves too much to do to win the game.
“The pressure will build if we continue to get results like that. If there is any criticism of today’s performance, I cannot defend it.
Lennon was furious at his team’s defensive failures, blaming a “frozen brain” for falling 2-0 behind in seven minutes of the second half.
Scott Brown’s unnecessary barge on Martin Boyle conceded a penalty, which Jamie Murphy converted after Scott Bain saved from Kevin Nisbet.
And Nisbet added a second after capitalizing on Celtic’s static defense.
“It was a very bad decision by Scott, I don’t know where that came from,” Lennon said. “And then a terrible second goal. It was just weak – a free header and then no further race.”
“We have to be much more precise with our defense and do the practical aspects of the game well.
“Players have to look at that and wonder why we can’t put that together for 90 minutes instead of saving it for 20 minutes. It’s a mindset thing more than anything else.”
