Tony Mowbray admits his Celtic side will have to tread carefully in Thursday night's Europa League clash with Hamburg to ensure they are not opened up by the German side.

The Hoops have only one point from their first two Group C games and the Celtic boss is aware that anything less than three points would leave qualification to the knockout phase an unlikely prospect, but warned against the traditional gung-ho approach favoured by the Hoops' fans.

"We're going to go and try to win while understanding that they've got some very high-class players," Mowbray said. "If we play an open game of football their talent will probably leave our players a bit exposed. So we have to ask the fans to be a bit patient at times as we are playing against a good team."

He added: "Their third-choice centre forward (Marcus Berg) cost £12million and they've got a left winger (Eljero Elia) who cost them £8million. So let's respect that they are very talented."

Celtic fans, however, have been running out patience in recent weeks.

Former West Brom boss Mowbray has had a sticky start to his reign since taking over from Gordon Strachan in the Parkhead hotseat in the summer, with a home record of just two wins in seven causing some concern among the Celtic fans who have watched their side fall behind Old Firm rivals Rangers in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title race.

Mowbray has brought in Danny Fox, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Landry N'Guemo but he candidly revealed how he intends to deal with the players he now deems to be surplus to requirements.

"As time moves on things will evolve," he said "When I moved from West Brom there were only two players left from the 35 I inherited - Paul Robinson and Jonathan Greening.

"They were stronger when I left than when I arrived. I think Celtic will be stronger the day I leave than from the day I arrived but that has yet to be proven."