Former goalkeeper Alan Rough has claimed that Celtic defence hasn’t improved since Shane Duffy was dropped from the side.

As quoted by the Daily Record, the Irishman who was replaced in the last two games by youngster Stephen Welsh and has faced heavy criticism this season for several high profile errors which led to him being dropped from the side.

However, Rough believes that despite Duffy being dropped there hasn’t been any improvement and it was more of the same against Motherwell.

“I think we are all scratching our heads about how this hasn’t worked.

“We all seen the credentials of him as a club player and an international player more than anything else, but I can’t remember him having any particular game that he was a stand-out.

“On Saturday it was the same old story. 2-0 and coasting with loads and loads of chance and all of a sudden the goals go in.

“For the last 10 minutes it was just one big panic.”

Since the 28-year old has found himself on the bench, Celtic have gone on to record two victories with a 4-0 win over Kilmarnock and a 2-1 win over Motherwell.

Now, it would be extremely harsh to say this is just down to Duffy being out the side and it isn’t completely his fault this season despite the poor performances.

At the same time, I do feel there has been an improvement at the back, no matter how little it is with Welsh coming into the side.

The 20-year old picked up a Man of the Match award on Saturday and showed some good qualities.

Don’t get me wrong, he has things to work on and that was also evident at the weekend. The only way that will happen though is by getting the chance to learn and gain experience, and that would be best served alongside someone like Kristoffer Ajer.