RONNY DEILA is about to enter a pivotal month which will shape how fans react to his first season at Celtic, according to former Parkhead favourite Murdo MacLeod.
Celtic face Rangers in the League Cup semi-final on Sunday and then have Dundee in the Scottish Cup and Inter Milan in the Europa League, which means the Premiership leaders could be fighting on as many as four fronts at the end of February or as few as one. According to MacLeod, losing the Old Firm game would give manager Deila real problems with the Celtic support because they expect to see Rangers being hammered at Hampden. "This will be a massive time for him," said MacLeod. "It's one that could see him advance in cups and get him through in Europe although I don't think the European ties are the most important one now. You've got to look at the cup games and the league and I think the Rangers game is up there with any of them, especially for the fans. It's a cup tie and you want to win the League Cup. You've got to beat Rangers when you haven't played them for three years. Every Old Firm fan has been waiting for this game. With Celtic being the favourites going into it, if he doesn't win that one he is going to get so much stick. "It would be a sore one, with Rangers being in the lower league and not playing as well as Celtic have been playing. The Celtic fans wouldn't be happy and the Rangers fans would be partying for weeks. That would be the first highlight for Rangers in a long time. He'd get plenty of stick and it would depend on how he recovered from it. I don't mean just being knocked out the cup, but how does in the league. That's the most important thing. With Aberdeen doing well just now, it's not a 'gimme' any more." MMMM
261112 GMT JAN 15
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