“Bullied…” – Chris Sutton fires dig at Celtic star who “plays backwards all the time”

Chris Sutton was critical of Celtic‘s performance at Ibrox on Sunday, with his former side falling to a 3-0 defeat against Rangers.

Martin O’Neill‘s side were eliminated from the League Cup at the quarter-final stage, after putting in a very poor performance against their bitter rivals, recording just one shot on target throughout the entire match.

The manager has since received criticism for his team selection, and his failure to strengthen the midfield in the summer transfer window, with Callum McGregor and Mika Baur getting the nod in the middle of the park today.

Sebastian Tounekti also came under fire from journalist John McGinley, after failing to make any major impact before being replaced by Haissem Hassan at half-time.

In truth, the Tunisian hasn’t exactly hit the ground running since joining the 56-time Scottish champions last year, scoring just five goals in 45 matches across all competitions during the 2025-26 campaign.

Ahead of the trip to Ibrox, O’Neill spoke highly of his winger, saying: “He’s got really good ability around the edge of the penalty box. The thing I like about him is that he can go both ways.

“Sometimes there’s a bit of frustration, but there’ll always be a bit of frustration with wide players who might lose the ball once or twice. The most important thing to tell wide players is if they can go past people, just keep doing it.”

However, he clearly wasn’t impressed by the forward’s performance, given that he brought him off at half-time, and Chris Sutton was critical of his display.

Chris Sutton fires dig at Sebastian Tounekti

Taking to X during the match, Sutton said: “Rangers have run all over Celtic… question is can they keep it up for 90 minutes. Hassan must come on and exploit the huge space on the Celtic right/Rangers left… Johnstone nervy. Midfield bullied so far. Tounekti plays backwards all the time.I’d expect Celtic to respond.”

Although it was a disappointing showing, Celtic remain in the driving seat in the Scottish Premiership, as a result of winning their opening six matches, and they are five points clear of their major rivals.

However, with the Hoops set to take on Rangers again next week, they will need to put in a much-improved performance, and O’Neill will be hoping the game being at Parkhead will work in his side’s favour.