JOHN Collins last night revealed Celtic will continue to play attacking football in Europe - despite mounting pressure on manager Ronny Deila to succeed.
Deila has faced calls to be sacked from his own club’s supporters following a second successive Europa League defeat to Molde at Celtic Park last Thursday night.
However, speaking at the League Cup draw at Hampden yesterday, his assistant Collins insisted the Scottish champions would persevere with their adventurous game plan.
Celtic can still qualify for the knockout stages if they win their remaining two Group A fixtures against Ajax later this month and Fenerbahce next month.
Collins is confident they can progress to the last 32 of the competition for the second season running and remain in charge without abandoning their football philosophy.
“I’m sure the club will stick by the manager,” he said. “They’ve done it in the past. They are not known as a club that hires and fires coaches. I don’t think that’s the way forward.
“We believe we’re on the right track. There are always bumps along the way, setbacks. When you come to the setbacks and obstacles you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing. As long as everyone sticks together we think we’ll get where we want to go. It takes time.”
Collins added: “You can sit back and play 4-5-1, have everybody back, and not care about dominating possession, hope you scrape a result. Some people might want that, might think that’s the way forward.
“But we don’t think that’s the way forward. We think the way forward is to try to play football, try to control the game, pass the ball through midfield and try to be creative.”
Celtic will play Premiership rivals Ross County in the League Cup semi-final while St. Johnstone will take on Hibs. The games will be played on January 30 and 31 with kick-off times and venues to be decided.
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