Brendan Rodgers felt Celtic's performance at Ibrox was as poor as any he has presided over in 21 derbies during his two spells in charge.
Second best in all departments, the champions only forced back-up home goalkeeper Liam Kelly into making one significant save as their lead at the top of the Premiership was reduced to 11 points.
Recognizing that his team could have no complaints about the complete defeat, the Celtic boss, who suffered only his second defeat against Rangers, found it difficult to draw anything positive.
“I told the players that I didn't think we could be worse in the second half,” he said.
'(We were) a little better, but not much better. I have experience coming from behind when we were here, so I know we can do it.
“But today we never had that reaction, I didn't feel it.”
Brendan Rodgers looks dejected as his Celtic team suffers 3-0 defeat
Defenders Scales and Cameron-Vickers were helpless when Hagi fired in the first goal.
There was more misery for Celtic when Robin Propper scored the second in the 66th minute.
“I didn't think we were that aggressive and that we had, like I said, that quality in our play and that precision in our passing to hurt them.”
“So, yeah, probably over the course of a couple of periods, that performance was certainly not up to par.”
Behind, when Ianis Hagi found the net with a low shot, Celtic's expected recovery simply did not materialise.
Rodgers was left to reflect on an error-plagued performance that offered little hope of his team extending their unbeaten run over their great rivals to eight games.
“We are very disappointed,” Rodgers added. 'I thought the better team won, so congratulations to the Rangers.
'I thought they had an advantage in the game that we never had. We started well, the first three or four minutes, but today we made too many mistakes with the ball, obviously one of them that led to the first goal. From there, it gives them a boost to defend that lead and it gives a boost to the stadium. And from that, we never really responded.
“So, yes, attack-wise, we never had much in the game. I'm really disappointed with the performance and clearly with the result.”
Rodgers' main complaint was that the Rangers seemed to want the win more than their players.
Danilo then put the game ahead of Celtic with Rangers' third goal.
Rodgers felt his Celtic team never got going in the Ibrox game
Danilo celebrates Rangers' goal number 3 in the 81st minute
“Well, they definitely showed it,” he said. “I said it before the game. It wouldn't matter if we were 50 points ahead.
'Celtic-Rangers means everything to our fans, to people around the world.
“But today we never played with that advantage and that personality that the team has constantly shown.
'So, yeah, as a collective, we just weren't there. And, as I said, the first goal is from a mistake. We have to do better from the corner and then, obviously, we give the ball away.
“So I felt like we were very passive today, which is not like us. And, like I said, we were punished for that.
His team was so poor in the first half that Rodgers contemplated making changes at the interval.
Explaining why he kept the fire going until the 64th minute, he said: “I wanted to give the players a chance to see if we could get that kind of reaction.”
'We were there for 10 or 15 more minutes and nothing really happened. We started the second half well, but then we made the changes.
“We didn't control the midfield and made too many weak passes. As I said, our possession game has been at a very high level for a long period and, with that, you have the possibility to penetrate.
“I thought we gave the ball away too easily today, when we were under pressure, but also when we weren't under pressure, we were kicking the ball.
“So, yeah, it's one of the games you need to watch out for.” “It's not pleasant, especially when you're a fan who sees that, but we have to analyze it and be better next game.”
Celtic captain Callum McGregor and Rangers captain Raskin involved in flashpoint
Celtic manager Rodgers comforts midfielder Arne Engels at full time
Rodgers confirmed that Arne Engels would have started ahead of Paulo Bernardo had the £11million Belgian midfielder not been unwell.
“He woke up this morning not feeling well. He was sick,” he explained. “I spoke to him and we decided that he would sit on the bench and Paulo would come in and start.”
The only consolation for the Celtic boss was that his team are still in a dominant position in the title race, with their first defeat of the season meaning they have only picked up seven points to date.
“I can look at it from two perspectives,” he said.
“I think I can analyze today's game and see that we weren't very good and that the better team won. So I can accept that.
'The general picture is that we reach the middle of the season, 11 points ahead. The players have been absolutely top class up to this point in many ways.
“And from this setback today, from losing the game, you can learn from it and be better moving forward.” But in the game the better team won and deserved to win.”