Brendan Rodgers insists Celtic only had themselves to blame for surrendering a two-goal lead at home to Aberdeen.
Goals from Reo Hatate and Kyogo Furuhashi in the first 27 minutes placed the champions in a strong position to win their opening eight league games for only the sixth time in the club’s history.
Despite dominating possession in the first 15 minutes of the second half, however, Rodgers’ team shipped goals to Ester Sokler and Dons captain Graeme Shinnie before VAR ruled out a third Aberdeen strike for a handball against goalscorer Duk.
Missing key defender Cameron Carter-Vickers, the American international remains a doubt for Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Atalanta.
Bemoaning the carelessness of the defending in his absence, Rodgers claimed his team were ‘passive’ and lacked aggression in a ragged second half.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers insists his side were 'passive' in their draw with Aberdeen
Hatate celebrates with Furuhashi after giving Celtic the lead against Aberdeen
‘When you drop points, whether it’s home or away — but especially at home — you’re disappointed. We got punished for being careless, I felt, in that 10-minute period.
‘We had good control first half, should have been more in front. And then probably around about that 50th minute, 60th minute, we got a little bit passive without the ball and lacked aggression.
'And when you play how we play, if you don’t have that, then there’s a space for you in the back, you’re behind. And they finished it well.
‘And obviously for the second one we were careless. We gave it away in a really, really poor area and then they get the goal for 2-2.
‘But then after that we go again and had 32 shots or something on goal. We didn’t get the winner. But yeah, we were careless in that second half.’
Celtic remain top of the Premiership on goal difference after eight games, but had chances to win all three points.
Furuhashi scored Celtic's secong goal to give them a 2-0 half-time lead
A frantic period of added time saw an Auston Trusty strike ruled out, a penalty claim for Luke McCowan deemed to be outside the box, a stunning save from Dimitar Mitov and a goalline block from Duk with the last act of the game, VAR reviewing the incident for a potential handball.
‘The penalty one, it looked close, but you have to respect the referee’s decisions,’ said Rodgers.
‘The handball one, I haven’t seen it to be honest, but the guys on the bench said they’re not sure it was. So yeah, we didn’t get it.’
Mustering 29 shots on goal, the failure to capitalise on so many chances was another disappointment for the manager, offering Aberdeen a glimmer of hope.
‘No matter how much control you have, 2-0 is a dangerous scoreline. Especially if the opponent gets the next goal because it gives them an energy.
Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie celebrates after equalising at Celtic Park
'I knew it wasn’t going to be perfect today, coming on the back of all the guys travelling all the way around the world and coming back in, but I would expect us to see that game through.
‘At the same time, it’s not often a team comes here, especially when they’re 2-0 down at half-time and they come back out having made such positive changes and they really try to make a positive impact on your guys.
‘I think you have to give credit to Aberdeen because they were 2-0 down and we were the dominant team in the game.
'I think for Aberdeen, it’s a really good point. For us, we’re obviously disappointed with the result.’
Celtic now head for Atalanta with first-choice left-back Greg Taylor injured. Asked if Carter-Vickers has a chance, Rodgers replied: ‘I don’t know, I’ll see tomorrow.
‘At Atalanta, having played them before and obviously seen them play, it’s a totally different game.
‘They’re probably the best man-to-man marking team in world football, how they work. So the football will be different.
‘But we’ve already had that if you’re not quite on it and you’re not compact and you’re not tight and you’re not aggressive, you can get punished at the very highest level.’