RONNY DEILA is a man who will be keeping an eye on his figure over the coming days.

The Celtic manager, a stickler for fitness and healthy eating, has already banned chips, fast food and fizzy drinks from the Lennoxtown canteen as he tries to whip his Bhoys into shape.

Yet it's an altogether different kind of figure which will be halting him from doing just that this week. And for much of the next.

As the Norwegian and his assistant John Collins throw down the cones and dig out the bibs at the foot of the Campsie Hills this morning, many of his players will be dotted around the globe on international duty.

His captain Scott Brown, along with Craig Gordon, will be down the road running around Mar Hall in Scotland training gear, Virgil van Dijk will be limbering up in Holland for the Oranje's meeting with Kazakhstan on Friday, and Jason Denayer will be looking to impress Marc Wilmots as he seeks a place in the Belgian side to face Andorra.

Efe Ambrose, Aleksander Tonev, Stefan Johansen, Mubarak Wakaso and Liam Henderson are some of the others that will also be absent from duty over the international break.

It's a mass exodus the Celtic manager could have been doing without.

Deila was left frustrated at the weekend as any momentum his team had built up over the past few weeks was kicked into touch courtesy of the swinging boot of Hamilton's Ali Crawford.

The 1-0 loss to top-of-the-table Accies has, predictably, triggered an angry response from Hoops fans who are still waiting for their SPFL Premiership title defence to properly kick into gear.

It goes without saying a response in Dingwall a week on Saturday is a must, but the Parkhead boss has the arduous task of triggering such a reaction from a group of players who are not even there.

Yet Deila believes a change of scenery could just be what the doctor ordered as his men look for answers.

"Of course it will be hard to build for the County game when players are away," ­admitted the Norwegian.

"But they are going to play matches and get a little bit of time away.

"To lose at home is not something we want. But in football things happen. It's about what you do with it. We have to turn this around.

"Still we are in every competition, with opportunities to have a very good season.

"When they come back again we will bounce back and be ready."

Deila will be hoping the same number of players return in a fit condition to Celtic as the amount that left on Monday.

His predecessor Neil ­Lennon often dreaded international breaks and all the potential injury-pitfalls that come with them.

The Northern Irishman would curse the fact the bulk of his squad would disappear for weeks at a time to jet off around the world, and Deila is no different.

"We should've had a game on the Wednesday again so we could have bounced back. But the schedule is now for the national team," he said.

"We need to use this time to really get ready for the game against Ross County

"You obviously hope nobody will come back with injuries but you have no assurances.

"We keep on working with the players we have here and we'll be ready for County."

Two of the players who will be working hard back at ­Lennoxtown will be Callum McGregor and Leigh Griffiths.

The former was left out of the Scotland squad this time after receiving his first full call up last month for the tie against Germany, while the latter continues to try and battle his way back into contention at club level.

McGregor missed Celtic's last two games due to sickness, but Deila is hopeful he will be ready to face Ross County next weekend.

And while Griffiths has emerged from the bench in recent matches, his boss admits he is still looking for more from the forward.

"Callum is better. I hope he'll be available before the next game," revealed Deila.

"Leigh worked hard when he came on [against Dinamo Zagreb and Hamilton Accies] but again it's about getting the ball into the net."