Petrov questions players fitness against ‘average’ Molde

Former Celtic midfielder Stiliyan Petrov has questioned the fitness of Celtic’s players under Ronny Deila and says Molde are an average team.

Last night, Celtic slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Norwegian side Molde making the task of qualification even more difficult.

After the game on the Europa League highlights show on BT Sport, Petrov spoke about a number of issues with the current team.

I can assure you that the fitness is not there.

After 60 minutes, (they were) legless, not sharp enough. When you are not fit, then you start doubting yourself. I don’t think this team is fit.

Celtic lost to a very average team and I don’t want to be disrespectful.

Every goal Molde scored and chance Molde created is from a Celtic mistake. There’s bad tactical awareness, play, poor decision-making, bad body positioning.

Everything is wrong. It’s unacceptable at this level.

While did criticise a lot of Celtic’s play, he did praise summer signing Jozo Simunovic, despite not seeing much of the Croatian this season in a Hoops shirt.

The 21-year-old was a deadline day singing for Celtic and made his debut in the Europa League against Ajax before missing a month through injury.

After three consecutive games, he picked up another knock, which ultimately forced him to leave after just four minutes.

Nonetheless, Petrov is impressed by what he has seen and prior to the game said:

He’s very calm. He’s better on the ball than all the defenders at Celtic at the moment.

I think that when he plays, he gives Celtic some insurance at the back. He can organise defences and take that responsibility.