FORMER Dundee manager James McPake has admitted that Celtic are the toughest nut to crack in Scotland this season.

The ex-Hibs defender was sacked by the Dens Park club in February. 

He was replaced by Mark McGhee, with the club still sitting bottom of the Premiership.

McPake faced Celtic and Rangers twice in the 21/22 campaign before he lost his job with the Dark Blues. 

And appearing on Go Radio's Football Show tonight, he gave his verdict on which team was the harder to play against when asked about his views.

He said: "To differentiate both teams from managing against them, the first time we went to Celtic Park when Ange was just there, it hadn't quite clicked.

"Kyogo made his debut and they beat us 6-0. I don't remember that one very well...but they were great that day and you could see something was building.

"The Rangers game under Steven Gerrard, we had to change and give them all the respect they were due.

"I believe we were very unlucky. Jason Cummings missed a penalty and we had double the shots on target of Rangers that day, but they won the game, so fine.

"The game when Celtic came to Dens, they killed us again. They scored the early goal, then they got another one, and they were relentless.

"You've no chance when they do that. You think you've got a chance, then they come out again at the start of the second half.

"That's one thing I noticed about Celtic: they're very aggressive at the start of both halves, and they're ultra-aggressive once they get a goal.

"Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he changed it about and that day they cruised past us 3-0. They were very comfortable.

"He made it different, and watching it on Sunday he had Glen Kamara playing further up the pitch in the No.10. He's noticed something in Glen that he wants to use.

"Having worked with Glen, he's a much better player when he's further up the pitch and he can score goals as well. He's good at that end of the pitch even though he hasn't scored many for Rangers.

"But if I was to pick one I wouldn't want to play against - the two of them would beat us - but Celtic have been the ones that we really struggled against."