Celtic focus on Europa League home wins after Molde loss

Celtic are looking to secure home wins over Molde and Ajax to boost their chances of reaching the Europa League last 32 after the 3-1 defeat in Molde.

After three matches, Ronny Deila's side prop up Group A, with two points from draws against Ajax and Fenerbahce, but desperately need points next month.

"It's about how we come back from this," said club captain Scott Brown.

"We have two huge games to come and if we can produce six points we are right back in the mix."

Molde's victory means they sit top of the table on seven points, the Turkish side have four points and Ajax lead Celtic on goal difference alone.

Celtic can still recover to become one of the top two teams to advance to the knockout stage, but they will need to improve on a disappointing performance in Norway.

Molde visit Glasgow for the second part of the double-header on 5 November and Ajax are at Celtic Park three weeks after that.

Celtic winger Gary Mackay-Steven admits the team are "not in a great position" at the midway point of the group stage and says six points from the two home matches "has to be the target".

Reflecting on the defeat in stormy Norway, he said: "Everyone is very disappointed. We knew their strengths before the game, and that was counter-attacking,

"We gave them too many opportunities to do that and they punished us. We didn't deserve anything from the game.

"Everyone is looking for answers. It is up to us to look at the video and see what actually went wrong."

Brown described the defeat on the artificial surface as "definitely one of the most disappointing results we've had in a long time".

"It's about team spirit now, it's about mentality," he added.

Angry Commons

Kris Commons was furious at being replaced with 14 minutes of the match remaining

Neither he nor defender Mikael Lustig wished to make much of Kris Commons' dugout outburst at assistant manager John Collins and coach John Kennedy when he was substituted in the 76th minute.

"Everyone is always angry when they come off, it is part and parcel of the game," said Brown.

His Swedish team-mate predicted there "should be no problem" between Celtic's scorer against Molde and the coaching team.

"It's football and it's a lot of emotion," he explained.

"Sometimes you maybe say things or do things that you are going to regret tomorrow."