RONNY DEILA is under pressure.

Not the ‘win the next two games or you’ll be sacked' sort of pressure. This is not a crisis, far from it, but there are one or two people inside Celtic Football Club, and many more on the outside, more than a little concerned with what has happened over the last couple of weeks.

Before we go any further, it would remiss of me not to say that I fully expect Celtic to win the league and at least one cup. As for Europe, ask me after Thursday evening’s match in Amsterdam. A convincing win for Ajax will convince a few that this Europa League campaign will be over by Christmas.

Indeed, while Aberdeen could be five points clear at the top if they beat Hamilton on Tuesday, Celtic could quite easily find their form and regain that place within a few matches, such is the way of thing.

But right now, Deila could really do with his team producing some good performances and soon. Beating Ajax would be nice, but on this form unlikely.

Going out the Champions League for the second year in a row to a smaller club with less of a budget is simply not on. It means that Celtic must utterly dominate the domestic scene, but to their credit Aberdeen have one hell of a chance to push them if not all the way, then quite a bit of it.

Is it just me or has everything started to unravel a bit since John Collins talked about a lack of competition?

Celtic lost the ball at Pittodrie and in stark contrast to what the assistant manager claimed, the opposition were good enough to do something about. When was the last time Celtic lost to a team who were a man down?

Deila is a good man and when he talks you listen. So it’s human nature to want him to do well. But something is not right at the moment. Actually, it’s some things.

There is talk inside Parkhead that the squad is a striker short and a loan could still happen despite the window closing.

Leigh Griffiths is playing well and while he missed a good chance at the end, his running of the ball and willingness to make things happen were impressive. But he needs help. Nobody else looks like scoring.

Nadir Ciftci has done little to suggest he is going to chip in any time soon, Anthony Stokes is still there in body but that’s just about it, while Stefan Johansen, who was a bit better on Saturday, is struggling for his best form.

Too many times at Pittodrie you watched Celtic get the ball wide and put in a cross for a lonely Griffiths, marked by two players, or Gary Mackay-Steven at the back post who, with the best will in the world, is not going to barge his way past defenders to power home a head in the manner of Chris Sutton.

Celtic keep losing goals late in games and from set-pieces. The winner was awful. The ball sailed over several time zones from Niall McGinn’s free-kick, neither Craig Gordon nor any of his defenders seemed to want to meet it, and Paul Quinn said thank you very much.

Aberdeen were the better side. They appeared to want it more, even if in reality that wasn’t the case.

And one more thing; does anyone remember a guy called Kris Commons? The one midfielder who is always good for a goal. With ten minutes to go, and a man to the good, it was odd that Commons remained on the bench – again.

In that short period of time, he would have had at least got off two shots because that’s what he does. It’s very strange.

Celtic have just spent £5.5million on Jozo Simunovic. No other club’s wage bill will come to that, so the fans will be right to ask a few questions if their team can’t pull themselves together. Winning isn’t enough. They should be coasting this league.

The Croatian is badly needed, but at just 21 and with okay English, it’s asking a lot for him to come in and be the man in the centre of defence.

The back five didn’t so much creak in this game as almost break. Dedryck Boyata was clumsy in giving away the penalty – I thought he did foul Graeme Shinnie – and it was a challenge he did not mean to make.

And then there is Efe Ambrose, who came on for Mikael Lustig, hurt in the challenge of Johnny Hayes that saw the Aberdeen man red carded, who played right-back instead of Saidy Janko, a natural right-back.

Ambrose gave away a daft foul which led to Aberdeen’s winner. You could see it coming.

Look, it’s an odd time to observe Celtic. You can have a go at them about the points mentioned above and yet they might end this season with a Treble and half-decent run in Europe, which would be some achievement.

My feeling is that most of the fans like the manager and back what the club are trying to do in terms of the financial structure, but the team needs to play better football and start winning more games at home and aboard.

If Celtic lose in the Dutch capital on Thursday, Deila and his players will for the first time really feel a bit of heat. In this era of Scottish football, that shouldn’t happen