Brendan Rodgers has admitted he understands the frustration among Celtic supporters after the club failed to sign a striker during the winter transfer window.
However, the Celtic manager insists the lack of activity will not “kill his joy” as he remains focused on the team’s progress.
Celtic sold Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for £10million, leaving Adam Idah as the only senior striker.
Rodgers’ side had been linked with several attacking reinforcements throughout the window, with many fans hoping for an additional forward to strengthen their push to retain domestic supremacy and continue to progress in the UEFA Champions League.
But, as the deadline passed without a new striker arriving, concerns grew over squad depth, particularly in the final third.
Utility man Jeffrey Schlupp was the only deadline day incoming on a loan deal from Crystal Palace. Whilst, Jota did make his big Celtic return last week to provide competition on the left-flank.
Leicester City's Kelechi Iheanacho, Brondby star Mathias Kvistgaarden, and Slovan Bratislava talisman David Strelec were believed to have interested the Celtic hierarchy, yet they were unable to lure any of them to the Scottish Premiership champions.
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Addressing the club's failure to land a replacement for Kyogo, who scored 85 goals across three-and-a-half seasons in Glasgow, Rodgers said: "We done some really good business in the window. There were probably one or two things that didn't drop for us the way we would've liked.
"There's no doubt that the squad is lighter. I said clearly what we wanted to do. We wanted to have that support at the top end of the field, and we didn't manage to do that. It's a fair enough thing to say.
"You could very easily say that you should've got someone in the door before you let him go but there was a situation with that player which meant that wasn't the case.
"I said it myself that I wanted another striker so I'm not hiding behind anything. Absolutely, the supporters will look and see there's a top legendary striker going out and we haven't replaced him. So, I understand that.
"Could we have done better? Yeah, we could. However, as I said, we have to work with the players that are here now. I think that is the focus, I don't really want to be looking back. I'm not going to become frustrated now and kill my joy of working here every day at the club by thinking what could've been as we cant affect that now.
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"I don't want to put the blame on anyone here. I think as a collective it wasn't ideal how it ended for us, so we have to as a club go away and look at that.
"I go out that door and I still get the same group of the players, players that tomorrow night, if we win our game in hand, we go 13 points clear with 13 games to go. We've won a trophy, we are in the play-off stage of the Champions League.
"We've had a fantastic season up until this point, so I don't want to put any clouds over it there and take a narrative which is negative. This can still be a really positive season, and until this point it's been outstanding. So, I want to continue with that."
