CHRIS SUTTON has warned Celtic that the Scottish Premiership title is far from wrapped up after yesterday's Scottish Cup defeat to Rangers.
Ange Postecoglou's side came up short at Hampden as Giovanni van Bronckhorst's team came from behind to book their spot in the showpiece final against Hearts.
Celtic were poor and failed to hit the heights that saw them defeat Rangers at Ibrox just two weeks ago.
Sutton has now urged his former side to regroup and he insists they must use the Scottish Cup disappointment to fuel their title charge.
He wrote in the Daily Record: "Too many individual battles lost. Too many big players not turning up for the contest.
"Celtic need to make sure that Hampden performance against Rangers doesn’t happen again. Because there’s a bigger fight still to be won – the Premiership title.
"That’s the big picture. The league is absolutely not done and dusted despite what everybody is saying.
"And while this might feel like the end of the world after losing a Scottish Cup semi final against Rangers then Celtic can’t waste time picking the bones out of it.
"As the old saying goes: If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.
"There’s no point getting too down about what happened at Hampden. It was a poor performance and they can’t afford any more in the last five games.
"But they need to move on sharpish. If I was in that dressing room I’d be telling everyone to use the motivation of that defeat to make sure they don’t slip up in the league.
"At the start of the season they were written off but now they are a few games away from landing the title which would be an extraordinary achievement.
"There are hurdles still to be overcome which will require an improvement from what was on show at Hampden and I’m sure Ange Postecoglou will be working on it right now with a massive trip to Ross County just six days away.
"Celtic were flat. Rangers won more duels, more head to head battles, that was the difference.
"The biggest disappointment was Celtic’s lack of creativity in the final third.
"There was more than enough talent on the park to hurt Rangers but nobody took on the challenge.
"This team is all about being brave on the ball and quick with the passing but it never happened. Rangers smothered them and Celtic couldn’t get up the pitch.
"Tom Rogic has a good record against Rangers but was kept quiet. I would have expected more from Jota, Liel Abada and Reo Hatate as well.
"Giorgos Giakoumakis was a big miss to help them get up the pitch and it’s really important they get him back ASAP.
"He has been really influential in recent weeks but this was a chance for others to grab the headlines and unfortunately nobody did.
"I thought Callum McGregor played well. Cameron Carter-Vickers was his usual excellent self in defence although he missed the huge chance to finish Rangers off at 1-0.
"Other than that? Daizen Maeda was a one-man closing down machine again and worked his socks off but the service into him wasn’t great. Joe Hart did okay.
"But nobody else really stepped up for Celtic especially in a creative sense which is a concern.
"Having said all that, was I surprised by the end result? Not really.
"The bigger picture is that Ange Postecoglou has worked wonders this season to get Celtic where they are and it needs one more big push to get over the line and deliver the title.
"Do that and the disappointment from Hampden will be long forgotten."
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