Pat Bonner accused Celtic of having no bottle as he branded them "awful" in their derby defeat to Rangers on Sunday.
The Ibrox outfit battered their old rivals in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final to win 3-0 and knock the Hoops out of the competition.
It was a bruising defeat for Celts but one they fully deserved as they failed to lay a glove on Derek McInnes' troops throughout. And for Bonner that was the major issue.
The visitors underperformed in both defence and attack but the Irishman felt they lacked fight as well as the creative spark expected from a Celtic team.
And while the former goalkeeper hailed Rangers and McInnes for their decision making and performance in general, he insisted that Celtic were as bad as their opponents were good.
"I was utterly shocked at how bad Celtic were. They were absolutely... and it's bottle. And you can talk about a Rangers team in this venue and you don't have your fans, you've got to go out there and show that you are taking responsibility," Bonner said on the BBC.
"Show you want to move, you want to run, get on the ball. I'm looking at the players up front and I'm sorry, these are the players Celtic have bought. Kasper Hogh, Duran, Tounekti, Baur. Those guys were awful today. I'm looking at Duran and he played almost like an inside right position when you had three centre-backs who went man for man, it was so easy for them.
"I was shocked at what I was watching out on the pitch. The midfield I think, taking James Penrice in there was a masterstroke because it nulified the Celtic players who really didn't know what to do in the middle of the pitch. They didn't know how to get on the ball, pinned them one side, didn't allow them to switch the game.
"Especially in the first-half they couldn't progress up the pitch. They didn't want to exploit it at all, there were no runs from the players, the pass was on but went back again. Tounekti didn't get to the byline once when he was on.
"All the great things you can talk about Rangers, Celtic were absolutely awful today and if they don't get it right next week it will be the same. Take the fans out of it, you've got to have the bottle. You've got to come here and switch all that out. I've been here before and played when we didn't have fans, you have to have bottle."
