by Andy Muirhead

IT HAS been a bad couple of weeks for manager Ronny Deila and Celtic, knocked out of the Champions League by Swedish champions Malmo and then defeated by their so-called title rivals Aberdeen on Saturday — the trip to Ajax couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Scottish champions.

Tonight’s game against Ajax is a massive test for Celtic and Deila, with one paper even idiotically claiming that the manager is set for the chop if he fails to reach the knock-out stages of the competition.

Deila needs to set out his team to prevent Ajax from scoring first and foremost. Celtic’s youthful defence has been woeful this season and with Virgil van Dijk leaving for Southampton, it could be left to new bhoy Jozo Simunovic to — hopefully — bring not only the desire to actually play for the club, which was missing from Van Dijk this season, but also some steel and determination at the back which will hopefully have a contagious effect on the players around him.

The versatile Charlie Mulgrew is missing for Celtic though injury, with assistant John Collins claiming: “It is a blow, he’s an experienced player. He’s played in a lot of big games so we just hope he has a speedy recovery.”

I am sorry, but I think it is a blessing in disguise for Celtic. He may be versatile but the Scotland international doesn’t excel in any position and against Ajax you need players that excel, rather than those that do a bang-average job in a number of positions.

That means Simunovic could make his debut for Celtic following his £5 million deadline-day move from Dinamo Zagreb.

Emilio Izaguirre is in contention for a return to the side and, despite his defensive frailties, going forward he is a real threat that could prove important to Celtic.

Celtic must also take the game to Ajax, they must be clinical, ruthless and up for the fight. But the main issue for me is the lack of fight in the middle of the park this season.

Both Nir Bitton and Scott Brown — in the deep-lying midfielder’s role — have been shocking. Brown has received most of the criticism given his role as captain. He was poor for Scotland against Georgia and Germany, as well as for Celtic — especially against Malmo in the second leg. If Brown continues his poor form then Ajax could be onto a comfortable victory.

In attack, Celtic need to be fast, creative and above all lethal as Ajax will not afford them many chances and that is why Leigh Griffiths needs to play as a lone striker which Deila will continue with.

It will be a tough ask for Celtic to get anything out of this match, but in my opinion a point would be a great result away from home. A win would be amazing but wishful thinking.

Ajax may be a youthful side and have their own issues, but they are still a major threat to Celtic and playing at home they will be favourites to win this tie.

Celtic may have been “gutless in Malmo” but in Amsterdam they need to be ruthless and take no prisoners. Can they do it? I don’t have high hopes for them, but it is these sort of games that Celtic find a performance in and return to Glasgow with all three points in the bag — hopefully!