Levein makes ass of it

but they were 3- 0 down at ha l f - t ime a s Brendan Rodgers’ men ran riot.

Hearts improved after Levein changed thei r approach at the break. Half-time sub Ben Garuccio hit the post with a 25-yarder but it was too little too late as Celtic eased to victory.

The Tynecastle club are still top of the Premiership but they’re now just one point ahead of the Hoops who have a game in hand.

Levein refused to be critical of his players and admitted the heavy defeat was all his fault.

He said: “The manager’s an idiot. I’m an ass for playing that way.

“I thought our energy levels were starting to wane so I made the decision to sit in and try to hit Celtic on the counter-attack.

“But God, I got that one wrong eh? I felt much better in the second half.

“I did the players a disservice. Once you set out that way it’s difficult to change it before half-time.

“I was pleased with the second half. I know we lost two more goals but at least we were in the game and had opportunities to score.

“Put that defeat down to me. We got caught between defending deep and being passive. That comes back to me. I like to blame other people but I can’t this time.

“I’ve just told the players to forget it, we’ll consign it to the dustbin.

“We have been brilliant up until now and we’ll be back to our normal selves next week.

“Celtic have improved since we beat them in August. But I didn’t give the players a chance today.

“It’s a learning experience and next time we come here we’ll be having a go.

“We just didn’t get it right and it was down to me.

“But we’re still top of the league after 12 games and we’ve had to deal with a lot of injury problems. So all credit to the boys.”