New Celtic coach Nancy endures baptism of fire
Just three games after his appointment, Wilfried Nancy is already fighting for his job as Celtic manager.
Wilfried Nancy needed to win on Sunday. As bad as his first two games as Celtic’s new manager had been, victory over St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final would have offered some hope that the Frenchman had weathered an early storm to put his mark on a team, and a club, in need of a new identity.
Instead, Celtic produced a performance that highlighted everything Nancy is struggling to get to grips with in his new job. St Mirren’s win at Hampden Park was no fluke. The Hoops might have had more possession, but the 3-1 scoreline was a fair reflection of the match Nancy surely watched in confusion from the touchline.
Nancy has clear, non-negotiable ideas on how football should be played. Those ideas were established during his time in Major League Soccer as CF Montreal and Columbus Crew head coach and were almost certainly the thing that attracted Celtic to him in the first place. Nancy’s principles make him the manager he is.
The Frenchman favours a 3-4-3 shape. He wants aggression from his team in and out of possession and emboldens his players to exploit space wherever it opens up on the pitch. Nancy’s teams are position-less. When this works, it’s an exhilarating approach to observe. At its worst, though, it’s a rabble.
Celtic’s performances have fallen into the latter category. Nancy has attempted too much too soon, crowbarring the Scottish champions into a new formation that doesn’t suit them. Celtic don’t have the players to operate in the way the former Columbus Crew boss wants and that has been obvious in the performances they have delivered.
To function effectively, Nancy needs defenders who are comfortable on the ball to progress possession out from the back. In Liam Scales and Auston Trusty, however, Celtic have two central defenders clearly uncomfortable at seeing so much of the ball in matches. In Sunday’s cup final, St Mirren were happy to let either take possession.
The lack of natural wing backs means Nancy has had to deploy Sebastian Tounekti and Yang Hyun-Jun on either side when neither player is suited to the role. Tounekti and Yang both lack the natural defensive instincts to play as part of the backline, too often leaving Celtic exposed to the opposition counter.
In the middle of the pitch, Nancy requires two midfielders who can cover a huge amount of ground. Callum McGregor might be the most technically gifted player in the Celtic Park dressing room, but the 32-year-old has lost a yard of pace from his peak and has looked overwhelmed against Hearts, Roma and St Mirren.
“I can see something good,” insisted Nancy after Sunday’s dismal defeat at Hampden. He is right to point out that there have been periods in all three of his first three games in which Celtic have shown the hallmarks of Nancy-ball. Immediately after equalising against St Mirren, the Hoops were indeed firmly on top.
As a 90-minute team, though, Celtic are a long, long way from where they need to be. The summer’s dreadful recruitment has left the Scottish champions short-handed and lacking in top-end quality. Nancy is finding that out to his cost since taking over from Martin O’Neill. In many ways, he has been set up to fail.
“I tell them that I want to do better for sure,” said Nancy when asked what his message to the increasingly sceptical Celtic support would be. “But I am asking them, not to be patient but to trust what I am going to say regarding I can see what we are trying to do. I can ask the fans to believe in me and to trust I can do things, but that is not my job. I have to act instead of talking.”
Another bad result and performance against Dundee United on Wednesday would increase the noise around Nancy. It would add weight to the growing argument that while the Frenchman might have been the right man for the job at another point, now was the wrong time to integrate a manager of his mould.
In any other season, Nancy might have been afforded time to get things right. This season, though, Hearts are setting the pace at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, raising the prospect of a first non-Old Firm title winner since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in the 1980s.
Celtic simply can’t allow any more ground to be lost in the title race. They need Nancy’s methods to take root quickly or their new manager to make some short-term compromises to buy himself more time in the long-term. Hired to lead Celtic into a new era, Nancy has so far only succeeded in highlighting the club’s past mistakes.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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