PRESENT Ronny Deila with the offer of any one of the Molde players who took his Celtic side to the cleaners in the last round of Europa League games and the chances are he would politely decline.

Man for man, the manager of the Ladbrokes Premiership champions is more than happy with the talent at his disposal going into what he openly labels a must-win fixture with the Norwegians at Parkhead on Thursday night.

It is the system which underpinned Molde's victory that he would love to transport lock, stock and barrel to Glasgow, the synergy that exists between the opposition's players and their collective understanding over the roles they are expected to play.

This is a side that, despite suffering in the Tippeligaen this term following a considerable degree of success, remains more than the sum of its parts. Players come and go and few of the current starting 11 have been there for more than a few seasons, but Deila believes a culture has been built within the club over a number of years that provides rock-solid foundations for the longer-term future.

He has a vision of creating something similar at Celtic, a framework which sees young players learn the club's preferred way of playing and practice it to such a degree that it becomes second nature.

That takes time, though. It takes the kind of time that is difficult to receive guarantees over at a club with such high expectations as Celtic, but Deila insists Molde are not top of Group D at the halfway stage for no reason and points to philosophy of many clubs in his homeland as something to aspire to.

"Individually, we have a better team," he stated. "Individually, there are not many players from Molde who will come into the first 11 here.

"As a team, though, they have played together for many years and they know what they are doing.

"They play with each other well and that's the positive in Norwegian football. With their systems, they are thinking: 'I know I'm not the greatest player, but I know I have good skills and I will do everything to bring that to the team and my team-mates will get better.'

"Molde have shown, so far, that they are the best team in the group. They have seven points, they have played all the teams and nobody has beaten them.

"It is going to be a tough game on Thursday, but I know we have the quality to beat them. In the first game, we didn't play at the level we can. If we do that, we can beat anybody."

Deila has made a number of changes behind the scenes at Celtic will take time to bear fruit. He also realises that the pace of his own personal revolution has to be tempered by the need to keep churning out results.

Whether he likes it or not, he is under pressure following a second failure to take the club to the Champions League group stage. He needs to deliver on the European stage this season. The needs of the future must be balanced with the demands of the now.

"Every system takes time to work," he said. "It takes years, but you have to win at the same time.

"There will be setbacks, but a system is a system when you do it in your sleep, when you do it automatically, when you have done it a thousand times almost. It has to come from having 15, 16, 17-year-old boys and being in this system from 10 years old.

"Then, they come up to the first team, like in Ajax, and they see the pattern. They can close their eyes and know exactly what they are kind of exercises they are doing.

"This is something you build. It isn't like everything is bad until it clicks.

"Sometimes, you have to lose to get it right, but, in the first team, that is not so easy because you have to keep on winning. You have to change less than you can do in an academy, where it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.

"What we have here is not going to be my system; it's going to be Celtic's.

"They are going to say: 'We play like this' and not 'Ronny wants us to play like this'.

"That is The Celtic Way, that is what we are talking about, but that takes years. You get better and better every year and, on the way, we are going to have a lot of fun."

What unfolded on the rain-soaked astroturf of the Aker Stadium 10 days ago was most certainly not a lot of fun. Celtic were abysmal in losing 3-1. The lack of defensive focus was quite alarming, but midfielder Nir Bitton insists there are individuals in the team other than those at the back who must reflect on their contribution in the defeat.

"Everyone knows that defence starts from attack," said the Israeli. "If somebody is lazy from the three attackers, it is much easier to exploit us. Everyone has to work for each other.

"With the first goal in Molde, we lost the ball in their half and got hit on the counter. It was a set-piece that made it 2-0 and it is difficult to chase the game against a team that defends so well with 10 men behind the ball.

"I still believe we are a better team than them."

Certainly, Deila has left his players in no doubt over what is required with Celtic currently sitting bottom of the section with two points from three fixtures.

"It is a must-win game," he said. "That is how I will look at it. That we must win to get through."

Jozo Simunovic is likely to keep his place in central defence for the visit of Molde with Celtic in need of establishing their best back four. Deila worked hard to convince the club of the worth of spending a sizeable fee on a 21-year-old from Dinamo Zagreb and believes he has the ability to become every bit as valuable an asset as Virgil van Dijk, sold to Southampton for £13million earlier this season.

"I am sure he can get there," said Deila. "His potential is huge.

"We need central defenders who can use the ball as well as Virgil did. He was unbelievable at stepping forward and Jozo is doing that as well."