Chris Sutton points finger in brutal Celtic verdict, highlights 'stupid' decisions
Chris Sutton has pointed the finger at the Celtic board after the team were dumped out of the Champions League on Tuesday in a 5-1 defeat at LASK.
The Hoops had built up a 3-0 lead at Celtic Park against the Austrian champions last week, and even went 4-0 up on aggregate when Callum McGregor scored.
But unanswered goals from Moses Usor, Robert Ljubicic, Samuel Adeniran and Florian Flecker saw the tie levelled and sent to extra-time, where Adeniran got his second and LASK's fifth to send them through.
The collapse will go down among Celtic's most embarrassing and damaging results in Europe ever, and sends them crashing down back to Earth after what had been a superb start to the season.
Martin O'Neill's side won all four of their previous games, scoring 13 goals to their opponent's one, but will be forced to settle for the Europa League.
The defeat has further pressurised the need for incomings ahead of next week's transfer deadline, with just four players having officially arrived so far.
Chris Sutton slams Celtic sales amid LASK defeat
Incredibly, Celtic conceded 40 shots on Tuesday, with six of those representing big chances for LASK.
The home side generated 4.91 expected goals and took a staggering 59 touches in the opposition box, in what was a dominant comeback.
Celtic appeared to lose the game in midfield, with Luke McCowan attracting particular criticism for his display off the bench.
The Hoops have lost Arne Engels in recent weeks and looked to seriously miss him, with their reinforced attack starved of any service.
Speaking on social media after the game, Sutton wrote: "People can say what they like about the collapse and I respect that but why sell your legs in midfield and weaken your team when the biggest games of the season are around the corner.
"Why sell [Daizen] Maeda? It’s just stupid… the justification is in the winning… Celtic lost."
Celtic answers to be found on the pitch
While fingers pointed at the board and the transfer strategy are hard to argue with, blame will also fall elsewhere for Celtic.
O'Neill's return has been a massive success, but he took responsibility after the game and will face questions over his tactics.
The Celtic players, too, looked terrified at times and allowed themselves to be ran over, with several players giving the ball away time after time.
It is the board who will feel the financial pressure of failing to qualify for the Champions League yet again, but they will now be asked to respond to the pressure and back O'Neill's squad in the final days of the window.