Why are defending champions Celtic stuttering as Hearts inflict successive defeats?

It scarcely takes much for hyperbole to take hold of headlines surrounding Celtic. A draw is a disaster, defeat a catastrophe. Successive league defeats? A crisis.

In reality, it's not. Yet. Yes, with Celtic having lost to Kilmarnock and Hearts inside seven days, Rangers trail the defending Scottish Premiership champions by five points and have two games in hand.

But the Ibrox side will not play one of those fixtures until after the winter break. Add to that the not-so-small matter of an Old Firm game to be played before the hiatus and Celtic still have it very much within their gift to be in control of their destiny.

However, Celtic supporters, many of whom left Saturday's defeat early, find themselves asking why their team find themselves in this position.

And manager Brendan Rodgers felt he had to offer "an apology to the support" after Saturday's dismal 2-0 loss to Hearts, adding: "I don't think I've ever had to do that in all my time here.

"The performance today was nowhere near the level of what is expected of a Celtic player and a Celtic team."

It's fair to say the vastly experienced Rodgers finds himself facing a different type of challenge in his second spell at the club.

Between 2016 and early 2019, Rodgers' Celtic won seven domestic trophies in a row, lost only eight Premiership games (just one at home) and Aberdeen were their closest challengers for much of that time.

So far this term, Celtic have dropped 12 points - three fewer than the whole of last season under Ange Postecoglou - and have now suffered successive league defeats for the first time since 2013.

Lack of 'free-flowing football'

In recent weeks, the Northern Irishman has lamented a lack of consistency in Celtic's performances.

At St Johnstone, Rodgers spoke of his anger over the first-half performance as Celtic turned a 1-0 deficit to a 3-1 win. At Kilmarnock, it was the opposite as Celtic started well and led only to fall to two second-half goals.

After the defeat by Hearts, he admitted he was "not surprised" by Celtic's turgid display.

"There has to be a concern because they aren't playing their usual free-flowing football," former Scotland forward James McFadden told BBC Scotland.

"They haven't become a bad team overnight. There doesn't seem to be that sharp pass or movement, or even the willingness to run in behind. Celtic seem like they're always looking for the perfect opening, and that's just not happening at the moment."

'Real divide' between fans and board

Michael Stewart was a Hearts player the previous time they won at Celtic Park in 2009, indeed he scored the winner. He took in Saturday's match and was struck by the atmosphere inside the ground.

"There were a few folk, after the first goal, having words with the board," he said on BBC Sportsound. "Later on, stewards wanted to calm things down, which only agitated things more.

"The punters feel they should be allowed to voice their opinions. In front of us, things became more heated with people getting involved in altercations.

"The big thing here, it felt like a real divide between the punters and the upper class [board], and their guests. That comes down to the perception that the board have money, haven't spent it and have to do their job better."

Celtic do have money, even with their significant summer spending. The latest set of figures reported a profit in excess of £40m.

The club are set to recruit in January - Rodgers has stressed the need for quality reinforcements while acknowledging the need to move players on.

Summer recruits struggling for game time

Summer signings Paulo Bernardo, Odin Holm, Yang Hyun-jun, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, Marco Tilio and Gustaf Lagerbielke have featured infrequently, the latter not even making Saturday's squad despite scoring a midweek winner against Feyenoord in the Champions League.

Injuries have not helped with Liel Abada, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda - all stalwarts of the Postecoglou era - missing extended spells.

Whatever shape the line-up takes as 2023 crosses into 2024, Rodgers' message after Saturday's game was clear.

"It always starts for me against the ball and when it's so passive and you are not aggressive enough, that for me is always your desire and how much you want to win the game," he said.

"That lack of consistency and mentality and desire, it is way, way off what this club demands. You're sat there in mid-December with 60,000 in and that's how you perform. It is not acceptable."