Armstrong blames team-mates for European failure

Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong has defended manager Ronny Deila for their Europa League woes after the manager was berated for the clubs bad form in Europe.

Celtic fans were loving the days of old when Neil Lennon was leading them out into the Champions League and securing wins against Barcelona. However, it has not been as easy for Deila as he has lost a lot of his key stars since then. The likes of Gary Hooper, Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster have all had moves to England and Celtic’s European adventures have not been quite as successful since.

They failed to reach the Champions League group stages this season having been knocked out by Malmo in the play-off tie, sending them to the Europa League group stages.

Results have not gone their way in the Europa League and they need wins against Ajax and Fenerbahce in their next two matches to qualify for the knockout rounds. However, Stuart Armstrong said the players should bear the brunt of the responsibility when he spoke to the Glasgow Evening Times.

Of course we do.

We need to look at ourselves. The manager can set us up and prepare us all he can, but it is up to the players to go out there and perform. We haven’t and that is why we have found ourselves in this position.

I can understand the frustration of the supporters, of course I can. But as players, we are equally disappointed.

We know that we can do much better than what we have shown so far in this Europa League campaign and we feel that we are better than the position we currently lie in at the foot of the table.