“I thought we were awful.

“After losing the first goal we lacked personality and determination. It almost felt like anytime the ball went into our box in the first half it ended up in a goal.

“Up until the first goal it looked as if we knew what we were doing, trying to put a press on, got up the pitch, we knew Celtic would have that rotation and find the spare man through their centre halves and midfield.

“I felt for Greg and Zak in there. As good as they were last week, when you are up against three international players, good players that Celtic have got in there, it was a bit more difficult for them to get to grips with that midfield.

“That wasn’t the biggest issue for me. The biggest issue was a lack of tackles, a lack of contact, lack of determination.

“The first goal in particular is awful. How Edouard can just come off, receive a throw in, the lack of a challenge, lack of determination to stop that happening was particularly poor for me.

“It didn’t get much better defensively and we lost confidence from then on in. We looked like a team that stood back and admired Celtic’s good play.

“When Celtic are at their best we can still lose that game but I don’t expect us to lose the type of goals that we lost today because I expect us to let Celtic know we are there a bit more than we actually did.

“The second half, we made changes, but I am not kidded, we get a clean sheet second half but that is more to do the excursions of Celtic from Thursday night. The game was done in their eyes, they had done their job and still controlled the vast majority of the game.

“We can’t take Celtic on with a possession based game, especially with the lack of midfielders we have got at the moment but what we can do is let them know they are in a game far better than what we did today.

“That was a huge disappointment from me today. I was astonished at some of the defending and I was astonished at some of the goals we lose. It was painful.

“I can only apologise to the supporters. Our supporters are deserving of far better than that. I think I am deserving of better than that from my team.

“My players are better than what they showed today. The personality came a wee bit when Bryson came on, you can hear Bryson, he is organising, he’s cajoling, he’s barking instructions, he’s criticising, he’s making people do things better.

“He was a lone voice out there at times. He’s a proper person, he knows the game. I need influence and those types on the pitch more.

“All week I have expected us to be far better than what we would be today.

“When the second goal went in there was no real reaction from my team and I almost felt as if though the confidence had gone from the majority.

“I wasn’t expecting that type of performance.

“Ferguson will help us when he comes back. Hopefully Bryson can come in and help us now. He hasn’t been at the physio’s door for the last eight or nine days so we feel as if though we are getting a run of training into him and hopefully that will then play out on the pitch.

“We need player to react in the right way. The only focus now is trying to make sure we win the next two games.

“The supporters should expect better and hopefully we can deliver better over the next few games.

“Once we get our injury situation cleared up, we can start to deliver better and the next time we play the Old Firm, give a better account of ourselves.

“There was a real gulf today. I was seeing them putting so much into the game against Lazio as a real advantage for us. I wanted that to use that advantage, I wanted a quick game, I wanted tempo, I wanted contact, but good players were allowed to be good players today and that for me is disappointing.

“Celtic at times were fantastic but we allowed that to happen. You have got to be far braver.

“All week we have spoke about trying to be more aggressive and get after the game and not allowing Celtic opportunities to enjoy the game and they still found a way. They have got some brilliant players. They have put together a very good squad as have Rangers.

“My concern isn’t them; my concern is my own team and trying to reach a standard of performance that we got last week at Motherwell. The performance was miles away from that today.”

“My concern isn’t them; my concern is my own team and trying to reach a standard of performance that we got last week at Motherwell. The performance was miles away from that today.”