Celtic Boss Wary Of McGhee's Motherwell Impact

Celtic boss Ronny Deila is bracing himself for a re-energised Motherwell following the appointment of the Steelmen's new manager, Mark McGhee.

The Scotland assistant boss returned to the Fir Park club on Tuesday and set about preparing for the visit of the Hoops on Saturday lunchtime.

Deila is aware of the potential for an immediate and positive impact at a club who sit ninth in the Premiership table and who have won only three of 10 Ladbrokes Premiership games this season.

"They will always be up for playing Celtic but they will have even more energy now," said the Norwegian, who is hoping skipper Scott Brown recovers from an ankle knock picked up in training on Thursday.

"When a new manager comes in people get excited and it is not easy for us to understand totally what they will be doing.

"There will be some differences but again, we have to concentrate on getting a very good performance ourselves and, if we do, then we know we are capable of beating Motherwell.

"We want improvement, individually and as a team. We know we have skills to win trophies and that's what we want to do.

"But there is a long way to go and there is so much hard work going into this period and through the whole year.

"We need to develop ourselves and if we do that well we have a good chance to have a good season."

Deila is confident that striker Leigh Griffiths and winger James Forrest will shrug off knocks for the trip to Lanarkshire but defender Jozo Simunovic is still struggling with a twisted ankle and utility player Charlie Mulgrew also remains out with a thigh injury.