If Celtic can't work out how to beat Kilmarnock then how are they going to defeat Ajax?

If they get a point against the Dutch and then beat Fenerbahce in Turkey, they would finish second providing Molde win both their remaining matches. That would be enough for them to get through with six points, which surely would be a record.

Two wins for Ronny Deila’s men would guarantee them European football after Christmas, no small feat considering they are currently bottom of the group, with two points from a possible twelve, and at least two things need to happen if they are to give themselves any chance of surprising the vast majority of their supporters.

They need to play better, a lot better, than they did against Kilmarnock and also defend like a team who deserve to be in any European competition.

Saturday’s performance, a 0-0 draw played out in front of a bored crowd, was not good enough and you do wonder what is going on behind closed doors given such inept performances so lacking in inspiration are far from rare.

Celtic have better players than their form would suggest. Much better, in fact. But if they can’t score once against a well organised but seriously limited Kilmarnock team, then even this less then legendary Ajax side are going to fancy their chances.

If Gary Locke can work out how to take something from Glasgow’s east end then such a task will not be beyond Frank de Boer.

Let’s start at the back. Jozo Simunovic hasn’t had much playing time since his signing, but he has looked the part and Dedryck Boyata is a much calmer and assured player when the Croat is alongside him. Although he still is in need of a run of good performances.

One man who has done well against the Celtic back four this season is Kilmarnock striker Josh Magennis. The Northern Irishman scored against the champions at Rugby Park earlier in the season, but he believed the defence is in decent shape after his attempts to get past them at the weekend.

Magennis said: “I think Simunovic is a very good defender. Signing for Celtic, if you’ve never played in Scotland before, you probably don’t understand the demands on you.

“That’s not just from your fellow professionals but the whole package – living in Glasgow as a city, the demands that are on you even when you go out for shopping and stuff with fans.

“Most people who have gone there have taken a bit of time to adjust. But from playing against that back four, I'd say they are very good.

“I don’t want to say they are weakened by the loss of Virgil van Dijk, but it’s a different dynamic. Teams might not be as intimidated as they were playing against Virgil. He was the best defender I’ve played against in this league. But for me, they are still a very good outfit.

“John Collins was right in what he said; very rarely are they ever tested domestically. They’ll always get tested in Europe – that’s when you’ll truly see a test of character and whether that are a good back four or not.

“I’ve managed to play well in a number of games against them – it’s not just down to me. It’s down to the style of play we managed to conjure up on the day. Fortunately it’s worked. Maybe they don’t like the physical side of the game. Or maybe they do and they just had an off day when they played against me.

“For me, they are still a very good team. For anyone to say that they’re not and they don’t have a good back four, they don’t know football."

Even those who don’t know football have come to the conclusion that Celtic need to be better at working out how to beat teams who are more than happy to sit deep at Parkhead and hit on the counter-attack.

Ajax won’t do that, but neither are they going to come out all guns blazing. Deila’s players will get plenty of the ball. They just need to be a lot better when it comes to the final pass and cross.

The mood among the supporters has changed over the past month or so. So many Celtic fans, when asked about Deila, begin their sentence with; “He’s a nice guy, but…”

Performances such as that against Kilmarnock, whose game-plan was bleeding obvious, have to be sorted out. Kilmarnock manager Locke knew what it do to take a point and Deila and his players did not.

Magennis said: “You have to be patient. You just can’t go chasing your tail against them at Celtic Park.

"If the fans don’t think they are being entertained they’ll certainly let the players know. When that happens they try and up a gear and it was important for us not to lose our discipline.

“We kept everyone on the pitch but at the same time you can’t show them too much respect. You’ve got to show them we’re not here for a jolly up and a pushover. I think we managed to do that.

"We worked throughout the week about what we wanted to do. We were meticulous about how we set up and it managed to work.”

For Deila's sake, let's hope he and his players will work just as meticulously over the next few days and come up with a plan to win their first group game.