David Martindale ‘takes his hat off’ to one Celtic player and spots unseen Wilfried Nancy tactic

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David Martindale was in awe of Celtic’s Benjamin Nygren after the Swede helped dismantle plucky Livingston.

Nygren scored two goals as he helped hook the Hoops back from the brink twice in the opening ten minutes of Celtic’s win at Livingston.

The Swedish midfielder equalised the first Livi goal as Nygren put Celtic ahead with a top-class finish in off the post.

And it was Nygren who Martindale was in awe of as well as the unseen Celtic tactic Wilfried Nancy deployed that got the best out of the Brendan Rodgers summer signing.

• READ MORE: Wilfried Nancy has press room in stitches as journalist makes big Celtic confession

Martindale spots how Wilfried Nancy deployed Nygren in secret Celtic tactic

Now at ten goals for the season, Benjamin Nygren is proving to be an integral part of how Nancy wants his team to play.

And after Martindale fumed about Celtic’s penalty, the Livingston boss still had time to praise the Hoops midfielder and point out a tactic that Nancy used that no one else appears to have spotted.

Martindale told Sky Sports, “Pretty positive in terms of the two goals we scored ourselves. Really disappointed for the penalty as I spoke about.

“And I think, Nygren, we need to take our hat off to him. We knew, kind of the way Celtic are playing. I’m not so sure, I didn’t want to say before the game, but I’m not so sure it’s a 3-4-2-1.

“It’s kind of a wee bit of a lopsided left. We got a lot of overloads because Maeda was out building that left-hand side, and Nygren comes in as the ten.

“So he’s got kind of a free role and that’s where the overloads come from. We spoke about it during the week in terms of Nygren making the runs into our right box area, and he picks the ball up.

“We don’t get enough pressure on the ball, but we’ve got to give him credit for that. But disappointed with the goals we’ve lost.”

How Celtic can take first place from Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership

Celtic have the chance now to end 2025 at the top of the Scottish Premiership table after beating Livingston.

Hearts’ defeat to Hibs hands Nancy a slim opportunity that, should he beat Motherwell, taking top spot is possible for Celtic.

The caveat to that is that Celtic must win at Fir Park with more than four goals to do this but in all probability, that looks unlikely.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
1	Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian	19	12	5	2	38	17	21	41
2	CelticCeltic	18	12	2	4	33	16	17	38
3	RangersRangers	18	8	8	2	25	15	10	32
4	MotherwellMotherwell	19	7	9	3	26	16	10	30

Not because Celtic are lacking up front, but mainly because the defensive frailties in Nancy’s Celtic are such that a clean sheet is simply not a guarantee.