OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER, the Molde manager, has called for Ronny Deila not to be axed as Celtic manager while vowing to help keep him in a job.

The Norwegian heaped even more misery on to his fellow countryman on Thursday night when his team stunned the Parkhead crowd with a 2-1 win exactly a fortnight after they recorded a 3-1 victory in their homeland. It was a dreadful display from Deila’s men that led some fans to call for change as the Scottish champions remain rooted to the foot of Europa League Group A on two points.

Solskjaer has sympathy for his opposite number, however. And he has pledged that he will send out his Molde team – who have already qualified for the knockout stages – to win their remaining two games to help clear the path for Celtic to progress with them - and take the heat off their under-fire manager..

“I want Ronny to go through with Celtic, yes,” said the former Manchester United forward. “We are going to go into these last two games definitely wanting to win, and if that helps Celtic then brilliant.

“He’s still got two games left to go through. It’s such a tight group and a win in the next game puts them second. So it’s still two games from six to go. Of course he knows he is under pressure, he knew that when he walked in the door that this is a club that demands results. I hope he does get time.

“I’ve seen them win big, big games and of course that’s what everyone expects and wants. But it’s hard when you play in a league that you just walk through and win every year.

“You need to get a level of games more regularly to be able to do it in Europe as well.”

The last two games on the continent will haunt Celtic for some time, but it will have been a particularly chastening experience for the two Norwegians in the Parkhead camp.

While Deila could have done without both losses to familiar opposition, so could Stefan Johansen, the Hoops midfielder who proclaimed after the 2-2 draw with Fenerbahce that the Scottish champions would take six points off Molde. It was a comment that didn’t go unnoticed.

“Yes, of course, we read everything about it,” said Solskjaer. “We don’t mind being written off because these boys have to learn to be favourites, that’s what we’ve got to do.

“When I came here in 2011 we never won anything then we won the league for the first time in 100 years then in 2012. Suddenly now, we have to learn how to be favourites. Last year we won the double, this year we are sixth in the league but we have raised ourselves in these games, so that shows we have to learn. It’s hard.”

As much as Celtic’s attempts at Parkhead were feeble, increasingly so as the game progressed, the tough resistance put up by the time currently sixth in the Norwegian league was unwavering.

In the first meeting of the teams last month they heavily relied on counter-attacking football. While there was some evidence of that in Glasgow, it was a much more comfortable display that had their manager relaxed throughout.

“The performance at Glasgow was a lot better than two weeks ago for my liking,” said Solskjaer. “The last time we relied too much on counter-attacks, we didn’t have possession last time. Obviously after they went down to 10 men we controlled it but I thought we did really well before that as well.

"I thought we had everything sewn up like we wanted it to."