Brendan Rodgers and Celtic facing an '˜enormous couple of weeks'

Brendan Rodgers is facing an 'enormous couple of weeks' in his Celtic career, former Parkhead hitman Chris Sutton has warned.

The BT Sport pundit admitted he didn’t understand why the Hoops manager had conceded that Celtic fans should be “alarmed” by the club’s form.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Sutton said: “I don’t understand why he made that comment and I don’t think it bodes particularly well.

“It can all unravel”

Chris Sutton believes Brendan Rodgers and Celtic are facing an enormous couple of weeks. Picture: SNS Group

“The manager has to take responsibility - too many players aren’t playing up to the level, they aren’t scoring enough goals. And for Brendan to come out and say he is alarmed, is alarming in itself,” he added.

Claiming Rodgers is facing an “enormous couple of weeks”, Sutton added: “It can all unravel really quickly.”

The Hoops, who are in the midst of their worst start to a season for 20 years, travel to Perth to take on St Johnstone in the Betfred Cup on Wednesday, and former Celtic striker Sutton believes his former club can kickstart their campaign with a good result at McDiarmid Park.

He continued: “They need results quickly because it has been flat this season and hasn’t been very good. It’s all very well having the double treble in the bag but they need to sort themselves out quickly.”

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Door open for challenging clubs

Sutton also believes Celtic’s stuttering start to the season has given some of their rival Scottish Premiership clubs a belief that they can challenge the champions this season.

“Celtic fans won’t like me saying this, but Steven Gerrard has transformed Rangers and they do have a real sense of belief about them,” Sutton said.

“They’ve left the door open for the likes of Hearts, Hibs and Rangers.”

Transfer woes

The former Blackburn and Chelsea forward also took issue with Celtic’s recruitment, branding the transfer window “royally messed up” and the Dedryck Boyata saga “unsavoury”.

The Belgian international remained absent from the first team despite Rodgers’ insistence that the defender was fit to play, following an unsuccessful bid from Fulham for the 27-year-old.

“Rodgers let the situation [with Boyata] fester,” Sutton claimed. “The Boyata stuff was really unsavoury.

“My feeling is they should have got rid of him - he downed tools and Celtic got knocked out of the Champions League by a bang-average AEK Athens team.

“If Boyata had played, there is a chance they would have gone through.”