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Watch Stokes and Guidetti score against Dundee

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Ronny DeilaOther than the points there was little for Ronny Deila to take from Celtic’s 2-1 win over Dundee on Saturday.

Goals from Anthony Stokes and John Guidetti retained Celtic’s place at the top of the table but for long periods, especially in the first half, it was the visitors who dominated.

Pace, tempo and fitness are three aspects of the game that Deila places great emphasis on but there was a tiredness about Celtic’s play that concerned the boss with the worries of the fans clear when four minutes stoppage time was indicated.

The absence of Scott Brown and the international break could have been used as excuses but the Celtic boss wasn’t in the mood for kidding the supporters on.

“Negatively, we didn’t press together and weren’t compact enough,” Deila said. “We dropped too much into defence, stayed too high with the wingers and didn’t run enough with their front four, so there was too much space for Stefan Johansen and Charlie Mulgrew to cover.

“At the beginning of the second half we were better and we got to 2-0 with a good goal but, again we dropped back instead of going at them and getting three or four, and we conceded a stupid goal.

“They got energy and we got a little bit frightened, but it was good we took three points away from the game but we have to learn from this and get up to another level on Thursday.

“We need good performances all the time to win games and against Dundee we had spells of good play, but we need more of that and I expect that to come on Thursday.

“It’s more about mentality,” he continued. “When we go 2-0 up we should just attack them and go for three and four, so we need to work on that. It should give us energy to push on and, of course, I have talked to the players about that.”

Salzburg warned up for Thursday’s Europa League tie with a 2-1 win away to Sturm Graz to extend their lead at the top of the Austrian League to six points over second placed Wolfsberger.

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