Davie Hay: Run will aid Deila health at Celtic

Since his arrival in the summer, it's hardly been plain sailing for the Norwegian manager.

Having to take over a team that has won the last three championships has both good and bad points, but becoming the man to follow Neil Lennon as Celtic boss was always going to be a tricky task.

I think he probably knows himself it's been a stop-start beginning to his time here, from being knocked out of the Champions League - twice if you include going down to Legia Warsaw before being reinstated - to one or two wobbly results in the league.

It's been quite an indifferent opening couple of months for a club that has high demands on winning consistently and, just as importantly, winning well.

In football people become critical of you very quickly. The best way to sort that out is to find some consistency with results and performances.

Deila and his Celtic team have yet to do that and go on a run, but there were strong signs against Hearts that the team may be starting to click.

Since the season started they have been playing in fits and starts to be honest. And the draw with Motherwell on Sunday was indicative of that.

After that result some people were far from happy with the scoreline or the performance. It was important for everybody, especially him, to get a win, and good win, against Hearts.

The players deserve praise every time they win a game, but taking into account the inconsistent start they've had, it was a very positive result against a decent Hearts team who have had a good run of results, albeit in the Championship. They are, after all, top of the league for a reason.

It's also vital for a good cup run for Celtic and they have taken steps to achieve that.

Last year the club got knocked out by Morton at home at the same stage under Neil so to go one better this time around will hopefully give the players a boost to keep it going and hopefully get a result against St Mirren today.

It won't be easy but, like I said, the pressure is on at a club like Celtic to perform consistently and to a high standard.

It would be a real marker if they could carry the positivity from the Hearts game into today and through to the Dinamo Zagreb match on Thursday.

While Celtic's creative players looked on form on Wednesday night, I noticed that Leigh Griffiths, again, wasn't among them although he took a place in the bench ,which hasn't always been the case this season.

With Deila having signed the new strikers Stefan Scepovic and John Guidetti, that has put Leigh down the pecking order a wee bit.

I spoke a little about it in my column last week but a couple of things can happen.

He can convince the manager to play him because right now he's not, what you might say, in the top three or so picks to feature up front.

But if that doesn't work out between the pair of them then you have to think Hibs may come into the equation.

The fact he was even on the bench against Hearts, that has to be seen as a positive step.

At the beginning of the season he was getting played more, it's only recently that he seems to have fallen away.

Maybe the Hearts game is an indication the manager hasn't forgotten about him and isn't ready to discard him.

It should become clear within the next month or so. If he's not going to be involved at all then both parties may then consider the option of him going on loan to Hibs.

If I were him, I'd want to fight for my place at Celtic. However there will come a point where you think, 'I've given it my best shot, I can't convince the manager to play me, I need to look at something else'.

But you have to be pushed into that corner, and for me he's not there yet.

If I was Leigh Griffiths I'd rather be playing with Celtic than Hibs.

He did reasonably well last season but he has stalled a bit. The best way to get back to that is just to work harder and prove himself.

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