Deila bemoans ‘sloppy’ Celtic defending

Following their 2-2 draw with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Wednesday, manager Ronny Deila criticised Celtic for a sloppy performance, via the HeraldScotland.

Celtic went one nil up early on thanks to a quick free-kick and awareness from Leigh Griffiths to catch out the sleeping Killie defence and slotted the ball past the keeper.

The game could have been out of reach after half an hour, but Kilmarnock replied through Josh Magennis from a low cross into the box. The striker stretched out a leg and put the ball past a stationary Craig Gordon.

Nir Bitton’s man of the match performance and brilliantly stuck goal were both in vain as Emilio Izaguirre gave away a cheap penalty in the 88th minute of the game. Danny Higginbotham coolly dispatched the resulting penalty.

In a game that Malmo boss Age Hareide was in attendance, Deila was far from happy with the performance.

“I am disappointed in the result,” said Deila. “We had a lot of chances and we should have scored more goals. We were sloppy in the defence just as we were against Partick Thistle in the last game in the second half.

“We continued doing that here and then you get punished in the end. Kilmarnock got four or five chances against us and that is more than any of the other teams have had against us in 10 games.

“We deserve to get punished when we don’t score goals as we are so sloppy in the defence. We have been good in the defence for a long time, so, hopefully, this is a one-off game and we get back on track on Saturday.”