Former Scotland international Alan Hutton was perplexed by what Celtic captain Scott Brown said after his side's 1-0 defeat to Ross County.

The 35-year-old told the Glasgow Times after the full-time whistle that his side opted to mix zonal and man-to-man marking up during the match.

As a result, the Bhoys lost more ground on arch-rivals Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership table - with the gap now at 18 points and the chances of securing 10-in-a-row all but gone.

Former Hoops midfielder John Collins recently told Sky Sports (cited by 67 Hail Hail) that Brown is "not the future" and that the club need to find a replacement in the summer.

Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton had great concerns about what Brown said about his defensive work alongside teammate Kristoffer Ajer.

“Obviously I was watching the game, but the thing that worries me the most was when I read Scott Brown’s comments in an article where he’s saying it is half zonal, half man-marking and a lot of teams do that at the moment.

“If you’re marking, you have to mark your man. If you’ve not got that within the team, you’re always going to fail at set-pieces. It’s something they really need to rectify.”

Transfer Tavern Verdict

Hutton is absolutely spot on here. Celtic are way off the pace this season compared to the team on the other side of Glasgow - and with good reason.

Neil Lennon's side appear to be struggling with the basic principles of defending, which is something they had little issue with last season.

Time will tell whether the Bhoys switch up the way they defend set-pieces. But whatever happens - a significant improvement is required under a new manager.

In other news, Kieran Devlin provides damning Celtic analysis on 2020/21 campaign.