Deila urged to play two strikers

Former Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk believes Deila should play with two strikers to get the most out of summer signing Nadir Ciftci.

Van Hooijdonk believes Ciftci possesses attributes that Deila is not getting the most of right now and compared himself to the former Dundee United striker.

Since his £1.5 million summer move from the Tangerines to Paradise, he has failed to hold down a regular place in the team and is struggling with confidence.

Leigh Griffiths’ form this season is part of the reason why he hasn’t got a sniff and his six-game suspension in domestic games didn’t help matters either.

However, van Hooijdonk says that Deila can solve the problem, and please some fans at the same time, who are calling for him to ditch his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation in favour of playing two strikers.

As quoted by the Glasgow Evening Times, the Dutchman said:

When Nadir signed, looking at the qualities of both players – not just the qualities they have but the qualities they don’t have – they would be the perfect combination.

I always find it a pity when you have two good strikers but you play one.

Deila’s stubbornness to stick with his modern formation has come under criticism from some fans, but van Hooijdonk believes it is about how he views Ciftci as a player that is holding the 23-year-old back at Celtic.

The thing is the coach (Deila) sees him as a number nine and then he has to compete with a real number nine in Leigh Griffiths. I’ve said before I think they are two completely different strikers.

Leigh is more a poacher and a goalscorer than Nadir is. Nadir has other attributes of the game. He can hold up the ball a bit better, his link-up play is better.

You also need to realise at Dundee United Jackie McNamara let him play from the left side. In that role I haven’t seen him yet. At Celtic he just seems to play number nine or sit on the bench.