Wilfried Nancy needs to take these Celtic defeats on the chin because it is the hard truth.
But when you look at the attacking performances of Celtic under Nancy, there is no doubt that some of the players are letting him down.
That was proven in the first half of Celtic’s defeat to Hearts in Nancy’s first game in charge, and it was further proven against Dundee United on Wednesday night.
Jim Goodwin, who was at Hampden to watch Celtic lose to St Mirren on Sunday, was in the Tannadice dugout, and he shared how the Hoops played against his Dundee United side.
- READ MORE: Paulo Bernardo speaks about Wilfried Nancy behind the scenes at Celtic, just as sack rumours emerge
Could this formation be used at Celtic by Wilfried Nancy? Let us know how you would line up in the comments.
Jim Goodwin praises Daizen Maeda and Luke McCowan despite defeat to Dundee United
Daizen Maeda opened the scoring in the first half, and it was deserved. Even Goodwin acknowledged that on Sky Sports.
The boyhood Celtic fan added that the ‘quickest player in the league’ caused his team ‘lots of problems’, alongside Luke McCowan.
But ultimately, the score was only 1-0, and Goodwin admitted his team were ‘lucky’ to go into the break with that scoreline.
“I think it was that old cliche of very much a game of two halves,” said Goodwin.
“I thought Celtic started the game really brightly. Caused us lots of problems. We found ourselves in a position that we didn’t want to be in. We were trying to be aggressive higher up the pitch, with the goal kicks and the restarts with Schmeichel.
“We didn’t want to be in that middle zone. We recognised the pace of Maeda. He is the quickest player in the league. He caused us a lot of problems down that side.
“I thought we were lucky to go in at 1-0. But we haven’t carried a wee bit of luck of late, so it was great to get some luck in the first half, and at 1-0, we were always in the game. That was the message at half-time.
“The first half an hour of the second half, I thought we completely dominated. We did to Celtic what they did to us in the opening period, and then in the last 10-15 minutes, the boys are dead on their feet – and we just about shaded it.
“There were one or two key areas that were causing us the problem. There was a little rotation between McCowan and Maeda. Sometimes Maeda would find himself in the ten, and sometimes he would drift out wide to the left-hand side.”
Should Celtic sell Maeda?
Johnny Kenny probably missed the bigger chances in the first half, but nothing will top Maeda hitting the bar from point-blank range with no goalkeeper in sight during the second.
Aside from the Japan star’s goal crazy second half of last season, which helped him win Scotland’s PFA Player of the Year, during most of the time he has been in Glasgow, he has regularly missed big chances.
How much would you sell Daizen Maeda for?
There was talk of Maeda wanting to leave in the summer, so is the time now right, ahead of the January transfer window opening, for the Ange Postecoglou signing to go, if the right money is put on the table?
Perhaps the better thing would be to make that call in the summer, but either way, you could just see several of these senior players, who have won lots in recent years, heading out the door, given the mess of this campaign.
- Maeda’s games this season: 25
- Goals: 7
- Assists: 5
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