fbpx Skip to main content

Deila bemoans lack of fight
By Craig Turnbull

Celtic boss Ronny Deila bemoaned his side’s lack of fight as they slumped to a shock 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone at Parkhead.

Celtic Park was stunned when Danny Swanson opened the scoring with a wonderful half-volley to put the Saints in the lead.

The Hoops never recovered from that blow and failed to extend their gap at the top of the Scottish Premiership to nine points.

It was the third game in six days for Celtic but Deila wasn’t looking at fatigue as an excuse.

“It’s not good to find excuses. The performance was not good enough, but it has been a very hard programme for us. We have had some very important matches and today we got a big, big setback.

“We had a lack of fight, I think. We didn’t fight enough. We started the game well enough, had some chances and didn’t score.

“In the end we were too open and didn’t press as a team. And offensively we got in the centre all the time. We have to get much more width in the team and get crosses, and not be as easy to read.”

Speculation continues to mount about striker John Guidetti’s future. The on-loan Manchester City attacker is being coveted by a host of top European clubs including Feyenoord and Marseille.

Deila though insists Guidetti, who was injured, isn’t good enough to start every game for Celtic.

“If he wants to stay here then it’s a possibility. I want him to stay if he wants to stay. If he doesn’t want to stay then we have to find someone else. We can’t force anyone to stay here. There are a lot of players who want to stay here.

“Why doesn’t he start every game? That’s an easy question to answer, because he is not good enough. You have to be good enough if you are going to play every game. Today he was injured.”