Following Celtic’s 2-2 draw with Hibernian last weekend, there was two glaring parts of the starting XI that needed addressing.

One was up front where Albian Ajeti has failed to score in his last eight matches and the other was with Jeremie Frimpong at right-back.

Once hailed as one of the best young players Neil Lennon has worked with, he was abject at best last weekend, producing just one tackle and registering three unsuccessful touches.

Therefore, there were suggestions that Hatem Elhamed could come back into the side.

Lennon said he was in contention to start against Sparta Prague and indeed he did on Thursday night. Unfortunately, the Hoops backline was torn to shreds once again.

They conceded four goals for a second successive game against their Czech opposition, two results that have sent them spiralling out of the competition.

In shipping those goals, Elhamed failed his big audition to dislodge Frimpong permanently.

The Israeli made six tackles so was one of the most active defenders on the pitch, but crucially he lost possession of the ball a colossal 20 times.

Furthermore, he also made three individual errors. For the second goal, Lukas Julis got in behind Elhamed at the back post to ghost in and score a simple tap in.

Had the defender been marking him the goal would easily have been avoided.

Unfortunately, the 29-year-old was then at fault for the third goal too. Elhamed’s header in the Sparta half was poor which then allowed the hosts to counter.

The ball was played towards David Moberg Karlsson on the left but the Celtic defender missed the vital interception before the winger laid the ball on a plate for Julis to tap home.

This was a night to forget for the entire Celtic defence, even if Elhamed did win 11 of his ground duels. Crucially, though, he missed the most important ones.

The Israel international will have to hope he hasn’t dented his chance of securing regular opportunities.

In other news, Celtic's enforcer WOEFULLY let Neil Lennon down on Thursday...