Leigh Griffiths has thrown his weight behind Ronny Deila despite last night's 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen heaping more pressure on the under-fire Celtic manager.

The Norwegian was already facing fan flak after Celtic blew their Treble chance with Sunday's League Cup exit to Ross County.

And the striker admits the club will go into meltdown if Celtic stumble against minnows East Kilbride in Sunday's Scottish Cup clash.

Last night's result Pittodrie saw Aberdeen cut the gap on their Glasgow rivals to just three points at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership.

And Griffiths, who netted a late consolation at the death, has called upon his team-mates to take responsibility for recent performances and results.

“It is not just the manager, it is the players as well,” said Griffiths.

“We need to do better. We know that. We are the guys who go out there and it is up to us to take responsibility when we wear the jersey and go on that pitch.

“It has been such a hard week to take. We went into it thinking about winning a Treble and yet we lost really cheap goals against Ross County and then we did the same again last night against Aberdeen.

“We gave Jonny Hayes too much space and I don’t know why because we have seen before what he can do.

“We let him go and pull another one out of the hat and that was frustrating but to then go on and lose another goal on the back of that from a set-piece is just so disappointing.

"If you give Aberdeen two goals of a start on their own turf then you are always going to find it tough to come back.

“But it is still in our own hands. We need to find a way to get our heads down and be as consistent as we can over the next couple of weeks."

Celtic play part-time minnows East Kilbride in Airdrie with the pressure on Deila certain to be ramped up to extreme levels.

But Griffiths has urged his team-mates to ignore any speculation about the future of the manager and concentrate on winning games.

“The only thing that we can do as players now is win games,” said Griffiths. “That is the only way they you stop criticism. As players we have a job to do and that is what we are thinking about.

“The next game coming up now is Sunday. We cannot afford to slip up in any way – if we do there will be big, big trouble.

“We need to be professional and focussed and just try to ensure that we get ourselves back out there and winning football matches. It is the only way to silence against any criticism that we have been getting and hopefully we can get back on track.”

And Griffiths insisted that Celtic have always taken the title challenge from Aberdeen seriously.

"We always knew there was a title race, even before the game," said the striker. "Aberdeen are going to push us to the end. We are still in control though and we know that it is still in our hands."