On Wednesday night, a day after their 7-0 defeat to Barcelona, Roy Keane criticised the Celtic mentality which saw them celebrate qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League and also the 5-1 win against Rangers at the weekend.
Keane said Celtic players and staff had celebrated Champions League qualification 'like they'd won the competition' and that the Old Firm victory was against one of the 'worst Rangers teams I've seen in a long time'.
In his column for the Daily Record, former Celtic striker Chris Sutton offered a defence for the accused. Sutton prefaced this by relaying his respect for the Corkman.
But all points made with a short sighted and unfair reflection on the current circumstances. The problem with Roy Keane is that he had such high standards during his career that he probably judges everything by them.
Sutton argued that the Barcelona defeat cannot be looked at in isolation. There's a wider picture which includes Celtic failing to win a Europa League game last season - improvements are being made.
He also says that because he's managed Ipswich, Keane should be fully aware of what constitutes a 'weak mentality'. That is, perhaps, Sutton - a Norwich legend - having a dig at his side's local rivals rather than Keane's time at Ipswich.
Roy Keane talks about the mindset in European away games. Well, he’s managed Ipswich Town so he’ll know all about weak mentality. He’s right in saying it has to change but it takes time and things need to be put into perspective.
Celtic were losing games on the road with a far stronger set of players than they have now. Last season they didn’t even win a game in the Europa League. Brendan Rodgers can’t just flick a switch after being in the door for five minutes.
Regarding Celtic's 5-1 win against Rangers at the weekend, Sutton poses the question as to how Keane would have reacted if he was in Brendan Rodgers shoes - steering his team to a demolition job in his first Old Firm game.
Imagine Roy’s reaction to the brave journalist after his Celtic team beat Rangers 5-1 in his first Old Firm game “it was only because Rangers were rubbish” ! Yes so can I... That was a throw away line which wasn’t fair.
