RONNY DEILA last night admitted he was shocked at just how bad his Celtic team were as they lost at home to Motherwell.

The Parkhead boss was visibly angry after Saturday's 2-1 defeat when once again the players got themselves in front, only to drop three points which may yet prove vital.

Aberdeen are now breathing down Celtic’s necks and a Ladbrokes Premiership title race which looked all-but over when Deila’s men beat their closest rivals 3-0 earlier in the season could be well on.

Celtic fans took to social media after the match to complain about yet another poor performance by their team and much of the flak was directed at the manager.

Deila is now under pressure to get his team playing much better football and he knows things have got to be better.

The Celtic boss said: "It was very, very disappointing that we lost this game. We were 1-0 up and should have been able to keep our lead and then we went far too open, lost out discipline and focus.

“When that happens you get punished and this has to be something we learn from because it was not good enough. We need to get back on track at Tynecastle next Sunday.

“The performance really surprised me. We are a lot better than that. It always surprised me when things like that happen. We as a group are not satisfied at all. We need to improve for our next match."

Celtic face Hearts in Edinburgh on December 27 and if Aberdeen beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Pittodrie the day before, they will go into the match at Tynecastle in second place in the league.

Hearts will smell blood and see this as a chance to beat the champions and Deila will not accept a repeat of the mistakes that has been plaguing his team.

Once again, the Celtic back five looked less than assured and had Craig Gordon not made a couple of saves in the second-half of Saturday's game, Motherwell would have won by much more.

Deila said: "First of all, we have to be more compact and much better defensively against Hearts compared to the Motherwell game.

"We need to win more challenges as well - that is important - and from then show more tempo in our play.

“We have skills. We can create chances. But that starts with good defence.”

Celtic's poor performance and result could not overshadow the day which saw Billy McNeill unveil a statue of himself at the top of the Celtic Way.

Deila and captain Scott Brown stood right in front of the statue as the club's greatest ever captain took a bow in front of thousands of supporters who braved the wind to pay their respects.

Deila said: "It was a really fantastic thing. It is a very nice statue. The whole occasion was emotional and it was wonderful to pay tribute to a great man and a Celtic legend.

“I have been lucky to meet a lot of the guys from that team. They are so important for Celtic even now and it’s been a pleasure to get to know them.”