RONNY DEILA, the Celtic manager, last night claimed some honest talking has cleared the air within his first-team squad and that his players are in a good place again ahead of their opening Europa League match against Ajax in Amsterdam.
The Norwegian dismissed the notion of a crisis or even anything close to such a situation following on from what has been a trying period for him personally.
Losing at Aberdeen, who sit five points clear at the top of the Ladbrokes Premier League, was hardly what he wanted ahead of this match against the Dutch champions who, while far from at the highest level themselves, are favourites to win in the Amsterdam Arena.
Deila, however, was in a buoyant mood with almost new-found determination and belief that his Celtic side can forget what has gone before and go onto enjoy a fine season.
"Football is up and down. It is never in a straight line up to heaven," he said. "Sometimes it’s setbacks. Good teams bounce back and find reasons why they have a bad performance. That is what we have done, as we do after we win.
“That is how you progress. You have good and bad experiences. You have to move on and learn. That’s what I mean by clearing the air.
“We have assessed everything. When you get setbacks like that, a lot of it is about confidence. Everybody was disappointed not to get into the Champions League and it can take a bit of time to get over it.
“But I think we have cleared the air now and can focus on getting forward. We still have so much to look forward to."
Deila is in Holland without Charlie Mulgrew, Stuart Armstrong and Scott Allan, all three are injured, and it does look like new signing Jozo Simunovic is going to start in the centre of defence.
The Celtic manager is calm about what his team can achieve and set his sights on playing European football in the second half of the season.
He said: "I am lucky. I am at the biggest club in Scotland. I have the best players in Scotland. I have a fantastic situation.
"It’s just a case of getting the best out of this team and get them performing, something we have done so many times before in winning games and trophies.
“We can get a good result against Ajax. That would be a great start to the group stage. We are in a tough group with good teams. Small things will make the difference.
"If we can get through the group then anything can happen. First of all the goal is to get through this group, that’s the goal, finish in the top two and then see if we can play some football after Christmas."
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