Arne Engels issues a passionate case for the defence at Celtic

Celtic midfielder Arne Engels admits they need to sort out their defensive frailties if they are to win big games.

The champions have bounced back from the opening four defeats of Wilfried Nancy’s reign by recording back-to-back wins against Aberdeen at home and Livingston away.

But they have yet to keep a clean sheet under the Frenchman and have conceded 13 goals in total.

They now face a pivotal week. Tuesday sees them travel to face a Motherwell team who suffered their first defeat in 11 league games when they lost 1-0 at Ibrox on Saturday.

Celtic will go top of the William Hill Premiership if they win at Fir Park and they then host Rangers on Saturday.

Engels knows they need to cut out the mistakes that led to them losing two goals in the opening eight minutes of Saturday’s 4-2 win at Livingston.

The Belgian midfielder said: “It was a crazy start but we managed to get through. It can always happen, but we need to learn from it because we always come back from a goal behind and that’s not really great.

“We need to go in front. So we need to have a look at that and we need to be better in the opening minutes of this game.

“We just need to work on the little details that help us in the defensive part and so we don’t concede that many because we know that we conceded way too many goals now. We need to work on that.

“Obviously, it’s new to play in a three-man defence or five-man defence or whatever you want to call it. It’s new for us, everybody is adapting to it and it’s up to us to work on it and go on. But I think we saw some really good things and we are actually improving.

“There’s a lot of improvement, but obviously we are still conceding a lot of goals and that can’t really happen if you really want to win big games.

“So it’s up to us to now keep improving and keep looking at the details and it’s up to us to not concede that many. And like you see also, we score a lot. So, that’s also a really positive feeling about the new system.”

Engels has generally played in the base of Nancy’s box midfield.

“Obviously, it’s different, it’s really crowded in the middle,” he said. “But we know that and everybody is trying to adapt to that new style. It’s actually good to play, but I’m used to playing with all the midfielders that are now there.

“I think we are improving in every game and that’s now also being rewarded with the three points. So, that’s a really good thing and we still need to keep on going because there’s also still a lot to improve.”

The 22-year-old is enjoying his football after struggling to get into the starting line-up under Brendan Rodgers in the opening stages of the season.

“I’m in a really happy place,” he said. “I’m playing a lot and I’m feeling really confident.

“I had a difficult period maybe in the beginning of the season because I didn’t really play a lot.

“But I showed a lot of resistance and that shows now that I’m getting better and better and showing everybody the player I am. So it’s up to me to now keep this form and just move on.”