Celtic manger Ronny Deila has called for more consistency from his defence as they prepare to make the trip north to face Ross County on Sunday.

The Hoops slumped to a second successive Europa League defeat on Thursday as Molde left Celtic Park with a 2-1 victory that leaves Deila's side bottom of Group A.

It was the fourth match in a row in the competition that Celtic have conceded two goals and Deila wants to see more character from his side in defensive situations.

"Some of the same things are coming up," the Celtic manager said.

"We produced a lot of chances. I counted nine big chances and we scored one goal. That's something we can improve but we gave them two very easy goals, and when you concede easy goals you make things more difficult.

"We have to have much more character and more aggression inside the box to clear away chances."

Deila insists his side has the talent but, after a host of changes to key personnel over the summer, must be given time to gel.

"We can fix that but there has been inconsistency. We have changed the back four a lot. There is a lot of talent but when you haven't played together it's hard to get to know each other," the Hoops boss added.

"After Molde away we had two central defenders that played three games together and they played well together.

"Last year we had two central defenders who played together the whole season and we broke the record for fewest goals conceded in Scottish football.

"We've lost them so we have to build up a partnership again. Jozo Simunovic has been out with injury then came back and looked better. Now, in Europe you get punished more than you do in Scotland but when you create nine chances you should also score more so it's two ways here."

Celtic, who have a six-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership, could potentially extend their advantage with a victory in Dingwall against Ross County.

However, midfielder Stuart Armstrong is aware that a better performance will be needed in the Highlands than the one witnessed at Celtic Park on Thursday against Molde.

"We need to remain optimistic in these situations," Armstrong said.

"We have a game against Ross County at the weekend and it's a different game and different competition and all we can do is try to bounce back and make sure we put in a good performance there."