NOW it gets serious.

Celtic are just nine days away from their opening Champions League tie with Cliftonville – and the clock is ticking.

The carefully planned build- up to the crunch double-header against the Northern Ireland champions demands that, with the bulk of the hard work done in the first three weeks back, the fine-tuning has to kick in from this point forward.

Defeat in a three 30-minute session bounce game at Lennoxtown against Crewe has been followed by a 1-0 loss to Ukraine side Sevastopol in Germany, and, on Saturday, a 2-1 defeat to Romanian Champions League participants, CFR Cluj.

Each outing has been designed to raise the ante, and the tempo.

Now manager Neil Lennon has two more games in which to put an edge on his players, starting with tomorrow's match against Greuther Furth then finally Friday's night's meeting with Union Berlin.

Immediately after that, Lennon and his players will return to Glasgow before sitting down to discuss the game plan for their match at Solitude against Cliftonville a week on Wednesday.

Of course, the Hoops are overwhelming favourites to see off the low-level threat posed by the Belfast club, and meeting the demand for tickets for the first leg might prove to be more of a headache than winning the tie.

The fact it is not opposition well into their stride in their domestic season, as HJK Helsinki and Helsingborgs both were when Celtic drew them in the qualifiers last year, is a major bonus for Lennon.

Indeed, Cliftonville only played their first warm-up game after their summer break at the weekend, losing 1-0 at the ground where massive work continues to try and raise the capacity for the visit of the Hoops.

But, given past bad experiences of early-season matches they should have won, and the fact falling at this hurdle means Europe is over for the entire year, Lennon will not leave anything to chance.

So, while generating match sharpness and raising fitness continues to be the core priority during the second half of their training camp just outside Munich, creating a winning vibe – courtesy of a few goals being scored to confirm the eye of the strikers is now in – would also be welcomed.

Seeing a few more of the big hitters on the field would also be significant. Captain Scott Brown has yet to kick a ball in any of the warm-up games as he continues to step up his return after a recurrence of his groin problems in the Scottish Cup Final.

Adam Matthews, who missed the last three months of the campaign with a hamstring injury picked up against Juventus, is also still working his way back.

Anthony Stokes is another who has been noticeable by his absence on the pitch, along with Joe Ledley.

And, after their delayed return from their summer break, Victor Wanyama, Emilio Izaguirre and Tom Rogic are another trio who have yet to pull on the new strip.

Lennon is already resigned to going into the Cliftonville games without Efe Ambrose, who is not scheduled to rejoin the group until next week.

And, with confirmation that Southampton are ready to step up their bid to sign Wanyama, the Hoops boss is braced for losing his midfield powerhouse, even on the eve of the opening qualifier.

The ideal is to have a plan to cover all contingencies. That includes being denied the services of a number of players, either through transfer or simply because they have not hit peak condition by the time these second qualifying round ties come around.

Facing such a damaging early exit is unknown territory for Lennon as a manager, though he can draw on his own experience when Gordon Strachan's side crashed and burned against Artmedia Bratislava to end their first European season under the new manager before it had even got out of neutral.

It would be an even bigger shock if such a catastrophe struck on Lennon's watch as he has the advantage of a much more settled side than Strachan inherited from Martin O'Neill.

The major surgery undertaken in the past three years since succeeding Tony Mowbray has been followed this summer by some fine-tuning.

The only new faces are Amido Balde, Virgil van Dijk and Steven Mouyokolo, who continues to await news if his medical will allow Lennon to follow through with his intention to offer the French defender a 12-month contract.

Mouyokolo came on as a second-half sub against Cluj, by which time they were 2-0 down to a goal in each half from Florin Costae and Pantelis Kapetanos.

Both were the result of giving the ball away and failing to deal with the counter-attack, much to Lennon's chagrin.

The manager attempted to raise the pace of the game after the interval when Georgios Samaras was among a raft of subs introduced.

And it was the Greek international – making his first appearance of the close season – who got their goal when he used his right knee to divert James Forrest's deep cross over the line.

Balde had been removed long before then, his rustiness continuing to hamper his attempts to impress.

Van Dijk again looked comfortable and composed, even when moved into midfield to allow the more physical Mouyokolo to partner Kelvin Wilson at the back.

But everyone will have to move it up another gear in this week's games as Lennon begins the selection process for the trip to Solitude.