GORDON STRACHAN has told his mis-firing players to use the break for international duty to take stock, regroup and return ready to regain winning form.

The Celtic boss has watched their 19-point lead in the SPL table shrink to 13 after back-to-back 1-0 defeats at the hands of Rangers and Falkirk.

Coming hard on the heels of the same sapping scoreline in the San Siro against AC Milan, it means his team have failed to find the net in over 300 minutes of action - since the 2-1 win over Dunfermline on March 3.

Concerning though the lack of goals clearly is to Strachan, he refuses to let it open the door to panic.

And, as he wished an entire team the best of luck and a safe return as they set off to represent their respective countries in this weekend's crunch Euro 2008 qualifiers - and in the case of Shunsuke Nakamura, a friendly against Peru - the manager made it clear he wants them and the men left behind to take this opportunity to examine what has gone wrong in recent weeks.

More importantly, he wants them individually and collectively to consider how best the bandwagon can be put firmly back on the rails.

Steven Pressley, Stephen McManus, Gary Caldwell, Paul Hartley, Kenny Miller, Craig Beattie, Darren O'Dea, Artur Boruc, Maciej Zurawski and Evander Sno all join Nakamura on international duty.

And, while Strachan will sweat over their well-being, he hopes the break from domestic football will provide a benefit to the club.

He said: "It's handy that a lot of the players can go away and clear their minds."

Not that the manager subscribes to the theory that anxiety is beginning to unite with fatigue to undermine their final push for the finishing line in the championship.

In fact, he has a message for anyone who thinks his men are struggling to deal with recent setbacks.

"You would only think that if you did not look at the performances they have been putting in. They have not been nervous, they have gone out and played. But we have not been putting the ball in the net.

"Against Falkirk we did keep the ball and we did our best to score goals.

We had all sorts of opportunities, and if we can't take them, then we can only blame ourselves. But anxiety or nervousness? No."

When he does get his players all back together again at the end of next week ahead of the game at Tannadice against Dundee United, Strachan hopes the lack of success in front of goal will be but a distant memory.

The return to fitness of their top marksmen, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink - who is not included in the Dutch squad as he recovers from his ankle injury - and Zurawski - who saw his first action for more than eight weeks when he came on late in the game at Falkirk - will certainly help.

This will be a timely boost as the club approach the final seven league games and what they hope will be two Scottish Cup ties.It would be a poor reflection on a good season, which has seen them carve a substantial lead in the SPL and enjoy a history-making run in the Champions League, if Celtic were to limp to the finish.

Edgy though some fans have become in recent weeks, Strachan does not believe any bubble has been burst.

He said defiantly: "If I thought the performances had been abject, lacklustre and without any shape, I'd be concerned.

"That would be a scratch-your-head situation for me as the manager.

"But that's not been the case. So we just have to keep going until we start scoring goals again."

Strachan is not simply being bullish. He bases his assessment of recent performances on detailed analysis, boosted by state-of-the-art video and computer information which has allowed him to dissect every aspect of their play.

He said: "If you take the chances we created last week against Rangers and this week against Falkirk and add them all together, it's far more than the combined total of the two teams we were playing."

Strachan does accept, however, that the only statistic which matters is the scoreline. He has overseen consecutive league defeats for the first time in his 69 SPL matches in charge and it hurts.

Not even the fact he got to this late stage of this season having last tasted defeat way back on the second day of the campaign makes it any easier to thole.

He has been around long enough to understand every club will hit a sticky patch at some stage. Strachan also recognises not every decision will go your way.

It's when the two arrive on your doorstep at the one time that you can hit a problem. But that's when strength of character must answer.

"I actually thought when we didn't get the penalty decision against Rangers at Ibrox earlier in the season - Neil Lennon being brought down - that's one which has gone against us and we have handled it quite well,"

Strachan reflected. "Last week, against Rangers again, the penalty decision went against us - when Aiden McGeady was tripped - then the decision went against us when Stephen McManus got shoved as he tried to head clear in the build-up to their goal.

"People tell me this evens itself out. But it didn't on Sunday, so that theory doesn't work at the moment."

Which will lead to a redoubling of efforts to get back on the winning track, and Strachan believes his players are as willing to get stuck into this as he is himself.

He said: "I couldn't ask them to do any more in terms of playing football and making chances.

"And the game is all about chances. If you don't take them, then you have a problem. But we will work to improve this." Decider date?

THE SPL will announce the post-split fixtures on Thursday - knowing there is no way they can guarantee avoiding an Old Firm title decider.

Celtic's back-to-back league defeats means they can only retain the trophy ahead of the split if Rangers falter.

But it's looking increasingly likely the championship will not be decided until after the split. That gives the Spl the headache of arranging the fixtures to give the best possible chance of avoiding the title being decided the day Celtic travel to Ibrox.