Brendan Rodgers demands Celtic are taken seriously but fixing the flakiness is a matter of urgency – Keith Jackson

Our man reckons there are still plenty of questions for the champions to answer despite their late, late Lanarkshire show.

Amid the late drama and the explosion of unconfined relief at the away end of Fir Park, it was easy to be distracted from the cold, hard truth of the matter.

Celtic are no longer operating with the conviction of champions and – unless they do something to correct this flakiness as a matter of urgency – no amount of injury time salvage missions will be enough to clamber out of the hole they have been busy digging for themselves this season.

As a matter of fact, what went on in Motherwell – where Celtic came from behind to claim all three points in the dying seconds – was a microcosm of a stuttering and occasionally chaotic campaign. A first half performance which was bordering on woeful from a team which was selected by Brendan Rodgers to mild bewilderment – quickly followed by an all hands on deck recovery job fuelled by a panic induced adrenaline surge.

Yes, of course, when it was over Celtic’s supporters celebrated the moment as if they had witnessed the start of something of huge significance. Whether it was or not remains to be seen. But Rodgers certainly spoke afterwards with a tone of defiance, talking about stories already being written and insisting with his next breath that his side will write one of their own between now and May.

Not for the first time in recent weeks, this was an attempt by the manager to galvanise the club at a time when everything around Celtic feels bruised and fractured. And the general mood was nearing breaking point at half time when Rodgers felt forced into taking emergency action.

By telling Kyogo Furuhashi to stay inside and replacing his out of touch talisman with Adam Idah, Rodgers was taking a monumental throw of the dice. Yes, it may have been a highly calculated gamble but it was a risky business nonetheless. Had it backfired then Rodgers would have found himself coming under furious fire from a support which booed his decision to substitute Tomoki Iwata late in the second half and for no obvious reason.