THE Europa League is a competition that becomes more attractive the longer you are in it and I am convinced Celtic fans will be convinced of its merits if their team can stay the pace this season.

In the past, some Scottish sides haven't seemed too keen to put together a long run in the competition, and English teams such as Tottenham Hotspur have been known to use it as an opportunity to field fringe players, but I genuinely think the opposite is the case with Celtic this season.

Although budgets are being scaled back down, and the Parkhead club is trying to downsize, maybe a bit too much at times, this is still Celtic we are talking about. I think they can qualify from this group. In fact, I reckon they should be qualifying from this group.

Clearly, they would rather be in the Champions League, but the Europa League is all they have got. They have to be competitive because quite simply it doesn't look good for Ronny Deila if they aren't. European football is where the Celtic manager will be judged and so far it hasn't really been going well for him in that arena.

Okay, Dinamo Zagreb, who they host at Celtic Park on Thursday night, are a big club, with a pedigree for being well organised and developing talented players, but Celtic are the same if not bigger. They still have a good squad, with good wages being paid. Salzburg are a nice wee club who have had good results in the last few years, but again Celtic are the bigger club.

The same obviously goes with Romanian minnows Astra. Dinamo, who beat Astra 5-1 in the opening match day, look like being one of Celtic's tougher opponents. But if they want to get out of the group they have to be winning games like this. That is the reality.

To get a point in Salzburg was a good start to Celtic's group stage campaign, although it should have been even better with them leading so late in the game. That bodes well, but I still don't think Celtic are firing on all cylinders this season, even though they did play well in defeating Hearts 3-0 in the League Cup in midweek and followed that up by beating St Mirren 2-1 yesterday.

I thought Deila had arrived when they beat Dundee United 6-1, but since then their performances have been patchy. I think he knows what he wants to do, but sometimes his players don't show a consistency in producing that kind of performance, which puts him back to square one. I think his beliefs are right, but sometimes it is one step forward followed by two steps back. Hearts had opportunities on Wednesday night so it wasn't as straightforward as the scoreline suggests, but it was still a decent performance from Celtic. Deila will look at that as a big positive, because a defeat there really would have been extra pressure piling up on him.

With John Guidetti's signing not completed in time for him to be eligible for Europe, a big performance is required from Stefan Scepovic. People forget that big-money signings can take as much time to settle as free transfers, but it is fair to say he hasn't really got going yet. As a Serb, playing against a Croatian team, that might give him an edge, the way Scottish players up their game against English teams.

It certainly helps to have Scott Brown back. To play in Deila's team you have to have work rate and endeavour, and Broony has all of that. You can see that not having him in there for the big Champions League qualifiers really affected Celtic. He drives players on, forces players to raise their performance if they are not doing well, and Salzburg was a perfect example.

While Brown is central to Celtic, Leigh Griffiths, in contrast, has hardly had a look-in this season. I worked with Leigh at Dundee and while he gets this bad boy image, I have to stick up for him a bit. He is not a troublemaker who rocks the boat. But if he has something in his head, things can be black and white with him. You can tell he is not really that happy being used as a wide man so he shows on the park that he is not happy.

I just want him to start playing football again at a club and in a position he feels comfortable with. I had a discussion with him many years ago, and urged him to thinking about becoming a wide man, showing that versatility. I want him to be able to play both positions. You need to get it into his head that he can still be an attacking threat, even if he plays wide.

In that regard, you only have to look at Everton's Steven Naismith to show that you can be a wide player and still score goals. Maybe if he becomes more of a threat there and scores goals from that position, Deila might think more about playing him as an out-and-out striker.