Former Celtic striker Frank McGarvey has urged Celtic to bolster their defence – by going all out attack.

Ronny Deila’s side have toiled for any defensive consistency this term, which has been particularly costly in their quest for European progress, but McGarvey believes that there is an answer under the noses of the club.

“The defence are struggling, especially in Europe, and to me it would make perfect sense to adopt the ‘attack is the best form of defence’ philosophy.

“Having two strikers to hold the ball up would take some of the pressure off the defence. It is too hard for one striker who is up front on his own to hold the ball up, so it means that every time the ball goes forward, it is coming straight back at you.

“You get the double whammy – you get to take the pressure of the defence while also creating more chances and more goals.

“It is a mystery to me why they don’t go with two up top, it really is.

“Nadir Ciftci doesn’t seem to be working out but if you were to try out Carlton Cole once he is fully fit along with Leigh Griffiths then I think that you would see plenty of goals.

“I can understand it if you are playing Barcelona in the Nou Camp, but if you are at Celtic Park then you should be going out with two strikers, every single time.”

And McGarvey believes that teaming the in-form Griffiths with new signing Cole could enable a significant striking partnership.

“You have a duty to get bums on seats, to entertain the punters that pay good money and scoring goals is the way to do that. Charlie Nicholas and I scored 76 goals in season 1982/83 – he got 48 and I got 26 but we would never have scored as many if we were not playing together.

“I set up a ton for him and Davie Provan used to set me up and that was the way it worked. I don’t have any doubt that it is the way to go, at least when you are at home and playing in the league. People are crying out for it.

“That is what the real Celtic way is. If you never try it, then you don’t know that it works, and I don’t mean just the odd game where you bring a guy off the bench for the last 20 minutes and see how it pans out. You need to go that way from the start.

“I like a lot of what Ronny says. I like his attitude, I like him as a manager and as a guy but the one thing that I just cannot agree with him on is the way that Celtic are playing with just one out and out striker.”

And the former striker was quick to insist that he did not point the finger for the defensive frailties at the manager.

“I don’t blame him for the European defeats,” he said. “I think if the board sell your best defender and the other one who is on-loan doesn’t want to come back then it is always going to be hard for you.

“It is a hard job for any manager to replace guys like Jason Denayer and Virgil van Dijk and I have some sympathy for him.

“But the refusal to play two up front is something that I cannot get my head around.”