With a commanding lead at the top of the table, and a place in the League cup semi final won, attention turns to the europa League again now, because after all, thats where Ronny Deila will be judged.

With nothing good to write about their favourite team, the media resorted to their plan B, which is to write bad stuff about their least favourite side.

Matt Lindsay in the Herald;

Ronny Deila is wrong – progressing to the last 32 of the

Europa League is vital to his future at Celtic

Dave McCarthy in the Record

Ronny Deila may be delighted as Celtic move six points clear..

but his progress will be judged more by European matches

Andrew Smith in the Scotsman;

ALL too much will be poured into Celtic’s confrontation at home to Molde on Thursday. Whatever impassioned addresses he may offer up, Ronny Deila’s credibility as manager of the Glasgow club goes on the line in the Europa League tie.

It’s almost as though they agree on what to write amongst themselves in the pub the night before.

Yes, Deila will be judged on Europe, but it won’t cost him his job should Celtic fail to get out of their Europa group. Convincing wins over Hearts and Aberdeen point towards a realistic treble, if the referees can be trusted, that is.

Sacking a manager on the back of winning a treble ? Or even a double ?

Only in Scotland would this even be a debate.

All this nonsense about bigger resources and expecting trophies is little more than malicious jealousy, and should be treated as such.

Consider this. Those headlines are on the back of another Celtic win, which enforces their credentials as the best team in Scotland. Yet somehow, we are only a few days away from a crisis.

On the other hand, someone’s magic hat seems to have gone missing, but don’t worry. They’ll bounce back, they’ll learn from their defeat and theres no need to sign anyone in January because it will upset the players he already has.

The wheels came off the Warburton wagon yesterday as Hibernian beat Second Rangers, no-one was really surprised, as full time teams usually prove to be too much for the Ibrox side.

Mark Warburton: Rangers will play worse and win

in the Championship after Hibernian defeat

I’m not sure if thats a promise, but it’s an attempt to stem any criticism of a manager who may about to be found out as the second quarter of the season begins, and other sides have worked out how to play against his…

 “They’re angry. If you’ve delivered a poor performance you don’t get angry. But that wasn’t a poor performance.

“We dominated possession and created chance after chance second half.

“We’ve given away a set piece, we lost a goal to a set-piece which we work on and it shouldn’t happen.

“It (the anger) is about the fact we’ve put in a good performance. The game is about opinions but it was a good performance.

“We got the early goal second half then dominated and how we haven’t won the game of football respectfully I don’t know.

“But we have to learn from it. We missed chance after chance and they’ve scored from a set-piece. Learn and be better for it.” 

another way of looking at that is they did everything they could, but Hibernian knew how to beat them. His talk of dominating possession was similar after the St. Johnstone mauling. Saints let them have the ball, but took it of them when they looked dangerous.

I mention them simply so we can compare and contrast the reactions of what appears to be a very frightened media just now.

Perhaps there is truth in some of the stories circulating, and they are in serious trouble again.

So, if you want positive spin on Celtic, the best place to get that is here.

Though it’s not spin.

James Forrest, reborn under Ronny Deila and more importantly, staying injury free longer, wants a new deal at the club.

 “Obviously I’m still at Celtic and it’s a great club, a big club. We are in Europe and it’s a great place to be.

“We are talking. I want to stay at Celtic. Everything you do every day is enjoyable and I 
want to stay here. A lot of the boys feel the same because it’s such a big club.

“I think I have a year and two months left and I am pretty confident it can be sorted. As I say, it’s a big club and you don’t get much better than the European nights here.

“In the last year I’ve kicked on and I want to keep doing that. I really want to play more games and enjoy these massive matches in Europe. I love them with Celtic and hopefully with Scotland as well. I just want to keep going.

“The manager has been really good for me. I’ve kicked on since the end of last season.

“It was really good for me in the last couple of months of it and I have kicked on again.

“We are on the same wavelength and he has been really good for a lot of the boys. He gives everybody their chance and we’ve got a lot of games coming up, so we’ll all keep getting our chance.” 

Forrest rambles a bit, and the rest of the interview is the usual we’re all doing great kind of stuff, which probably annoyed the reporter, though I did have a chuckle when the last line read;

“We are all going into Thursday’s game with real confidence.” 

As the reporter was David McCarthy again, I can only imagine him slapping his notebook shut, standing up and declaring

 Perhaps the rhetoric will change as the game gets nearer.

Deila will be aware of how difficult this game will be, if only because Molde will be confident.

He may also be considering doing something a wee bit different, perhaps not in formation, but personnel.

Well, the bsence of Scott Brown means he’ll have to, and whilst we all know Brown is a vital player, it may prove an advantage he’s not there.

Tom Rogic could well be the key here. He can run at defenders, pick a pass and is strong in the tackle. With johansen withdrawn beside Nir biton, Molde will find Celtic a different side from the one that capitualted in Norway a couple of weeks ago.

With ever game the defence is looking better, and although Celts still conceded the customary late goal from a set piece, the two centre halves are getting more comfortable each time they play.

Well, customary goal from a set piece ? Suspicions of offside ?

Molde themselves are no mugs. Budgets and crowd sizes and all the other reasons why they should have been easy meat count for nothing when the two teams take to the park.

Molde won their final home game of the season 4-1 against Viking at the weekend, and are on a great run at the moment. Worryingly for us, all their focus is on europe, but as that was their penultimate game of the season, maybe they will be a little tired.

 So the high tempo game we know Celtic are capable of is a must.

And if we do get in front, we must continue to play the way we started and not allow them back into it. We know they will counter attack, or at least we expect them to, but however they play Celtic must adapt quickly to it.

 The target for the remaining games is nine points. It can be done, and with a good lead in the league, Celtic can now give the Europa their full attention.

 Especially those players who are still disappointed that they are in this tournament.

There another foodbank collection coming up at Celtic Park;

We hear that Lord Livingston will be on hand to collect your donations, and he will match them with a big cheque ( You’ve got good hearing-Ed )

 Alright, i made that bit up.

But it wouldn’t do his image any harm if he did, would it ?

Right now he’s not a favourite;

Then he could resign from the board and the house of lords, and sing Go On Home British Soldiers while he burns his ermine cloak.

That wouldn’t do his image much good, but boy, what an image.

Last word today goes to Ronny Deila, and it should fill you with at least optimism , and maybe even confidence, ahead of Thursday game;

 We want to win all the time, of course we do, but we will always meet challenges and how you deal with them is the most important thing.

“If we do it in the right way, as we have, then we will be even more united and get stronger as a group.

“I have been really impressed by the way the boys have bounced back and showed that we are a team who really should get credit and one that is ready to fight for everything.

“I think we are more confident. You could see that when we were on the ball against Aberdeen.

“It has been tough coming back from the performance in Molde and all the things that happened around it.

“When you solve these problems in the right way and people get focussed to what we need for the future, all you need then is confidence and that is coming with good results.

“It can take time to get a game like that (Molde) out of the system, but we have won 5-0, 2-1 and 3-1 since then so we showed up well.

“I was really pleased with how we played on Saturday. It was entertaining to watch. When we want to attack and when we do it together, then it is hard to stop us.

“It was a great end to the week. It was incredibly exciting to be a part of that performance.” 

Well, not quite the last word. what’s going on here ?