Hoops making progress - Collins
John Collins insists he can see progress at Celtic as manager Ronny Deila finds himself under continuing scrutiny ahead of the League Cup third-round clash with Hearts at Parkhead on Wednesday night.
The Norwegian has been criticised for some of his signings, team selections and results since taking over from Neil Lennon in the summer.
The Hoops were effectively knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers twice, leaving them in the Europa League, and have already dropped seven Premiership points in six matches.
Celtic's 1-1 home draw with Motherwell on Sunday, where Deila made six changes to his starting line-up, brought a fresh wave of criticism to the door of the former Stromsgodset boss.
However, his assistant manager Collins said: "When a new manager and new players come in it takes time for them to gel and to get to know each other.
"But when you are a big club, of course, you have to try to win the majority of matches and we know that.
"When you are Celtic manager or assistant manager you are always judged. That is the reality of the job. But obviously it takes time.
"A lot of new players have come in, a lot on loan and they have to adapt to Scottish football and the surroundings.
"They are working hard on the training pitch. It takes time, it is not going to be perfect right away but we see progress."
Collins knows that they will be expected to progress past Championship leaders Hearts.
The former Hibernian boss said: "I saw Hearts at the weekend and they played very well.
"They are playing with a lot of confidence as you would imagine for a team at the top of the league.
"I would imagine the pressure is on us. The expectation is for the home team to win the game.
"I don't think it will be an open game from start to finish, maybe they will try to keep it tight early in the game.
"But it is up to us to try to control the game, create chances and put the ball into the back of the net."
Collins believes Leigh Griffiths still has a future at Parkhead and could demonstrate that against the Jambos.
The Hoops striker, left out of the squad in recent games, has been linked with an emergency loan move to boyhood heroes Hibs, where he had a successful loan period before he moved from Wolves to Parkhead.
"I think he enjoys playing against Hearts, doesn't he?" said Collins.
"He is in the squad for Wednesday. He trained very well on Tuesday.
"He is a Celtic player. There is no problem. There is competition for places and we have four strikers fighting for the one central striker's position.
"Leigh has to work in training and prove to the manager that he deserves a jersey."
Stefan Johansen and Mubarak Wakaso could return to the squad after both players missed Sunday's draw against Motherwell with knocks picked up in the Europa League game against Salzburg.
Charlie Mulgrew (knee), James Forrest (hamstring), Mikael Lustig (groin) and Adam Matthews (calf) remain out.
Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson is sure his side have a chance of knocking Celtic out of the League Cup - but he knows his players will need to be at their absolute best.
Hearts go into the game full of confidence after stretching their lead over Scottish Championship title rivals Rangers to four points following a 5-1 win over Cowdenbeath on Saturday.
But Neilson dismissed suggestions it was a good time to face Celtic.
Neilson told the club's official website: "It's another game and we want to win every game. So it's a case of going in and trying to win it.
"We'll prepare as we did against Cowdenbeath and we'll prepare the same as we're going to do against Livingston on Sunday.
"It's a case of trying to do our best, give our players all of the information that we can, prepare them as well as we can and then they need to go out there and perform.
"We'll look after ourselves. We've got a game plan that we're going to go and try and do. If we execute that and we do well then we've got a chance to win the game, but it's just a chance.
"I've said before that Celtic are the massive favourites to win the game. We have to go and play at 100 per cent. If we can do that then we have a chance."
Neilson said he would make "a couple of changes" but would play a strong team. Left-back Kevin McHattie and midfielder Sam Nicholson could both come back in after missing the Cowdenbeath game with knocks.
Source: PA
