RONNY DEILA got his wish yesterday afternoon. The penultimate name out of the Europa League hat, Celtic got the plum draw that he had been hoping for.

And as he sets his mind towards plotting the downfall of Seria A giants Inter Milan, the Celtic manager has admitted that he will draw on his "tactical naivety" earlier this season in an attempt to find a way past Roberto Mancini's side.

On paper, it is a pairing in which there is much to get excited about; a full-house at Celtic Park on February 19 with all that entails is a guarantee, while it is not entirely unrealistic to give the Parkhead side a whisper of a chance against Inter Milan.

Mancini took over the job following Walter Mazzarri's sacking in November and while Inter are still labouring - they have failed to win any of their last five league outings and are languishing in 12th position in Serie A - there will be money to spend in the January transfer window.

That in itself will be no guarantee of success but by the time February rolls around it could be a revitalised side that Deila is up against. In short, no matter how weak Inter Milan may look on paper they will still offer a stern challenge for Celtic.

And Deila is well aware that the Hoops will need to up their game to progress into the last 16 - and he counts himself among those who need to be sharper in Europe.

Despite getting through to the knockout stages of the Europa League there have been significant defensive lapses exposed in the Celtic rearguard and that soft centre will need to toughen up if any kind of European progress is to be made.

"I think we can all see that in Europe we can defend better and also be more tactfully aware than we are in Scotland," said Deila.

"That has been a big learning curve for me too.

"I always look and think where I could have improved and I do think that I have been naive sometimes. But I have learned a lot. I think some of the decisions have been good, some could have been better but I think I can take a lot from that.

"In Croatia, against Zagreb, we were too open and played too offensively. We used that game to test a few things and see where we were but we changed too much. I think that is something to think of.

"I know that in European games we need to look at ways to protect ourselves a lot more and the games that we have not played well in - the defeat here in Glasgow to Salzburg - are where we have learned a lot. We have to be sharper and smarter but we are learning all the time.

"As well as being better defensively, we need to create more chances, at home especially, and if we get them we need to be confident of taking them."

And while Deila can see the areas that require improvement, he has admitted that it can be difficult to assess just how primed his squad are for taking on European opposition when looking at their performances in the SPFL.

Celtic cantered to a routine win over St Mirren on Sunday afternoon, a game in which they could have both shipped and scored more goals. Deila wants to see his forwards be more clinical in front of goal but he would also like to see if they can set the bar a bit higher.

"I think we really have to be better than we are just now but it is very hard to judge because when you have as much control of the game, like we did against St Mirren, it is hard to know just how much is in there," he said. "How much more could they put into it if they had to?

"I think they are playing well just now, we are winning games and confidence is good. But you always want more. You

always want to know that you could get more."

Scott Brown was left out of Celtic's final Europa League group game against Dinamo Zagreb in order to ensure he would be able to play in the knockout stages. A booking would have seen the skipper suspended, something that Deila could ill-afford.

And the Celtic manager has acknowledged that Celtic are a different team with Brown in it than without.

"I think he is very important to us," he said. "He is a leader with the way he plays and he has a good intensity about him and his play. But what we are trying to do now is to get other players to that level. Charlie Mulgrew is an important figure for us as well.

"We have three weeks now before we have a break and we'll use that as time to concentrate on our league games and establish a good position in the league. We have time now before the Europa League game and we will have a lot of time to prepare for it."

Meanwhile, Deila insisted that there was nothing sinister in overlooking Kris Commons during the victory over St Mirren.

The versatile 31-year-old knocked back Celtic's contract offer because he wanted the security of a deal longer than one-year, but Deila counter-claimed that the deal on the

table had a knock-on effect into another season, depending on appearances.

Deila denied the player had been overlooked because of the situation.

"It was nothing to do with that," said the Celtic boss. "He played the whole game on Thursday and I thought it was a good time to put some of the youngsters on and get them a bit of first-team experience.

"We have to take it as it comes. I am hopeful that we can still organise a deal but we have to see what happens now."