The real reason Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy bizarrely subbed Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda vs Motherwell

Add as preferred source on Google

Wilfried Nancy is under tremendous pressure at Celtic right now.

The Celtic manager has just presided over his fifth loss in seven games as calls for Nancy’s time at the Bhoys to end start to grow.

Nancy is a man under pressure after Celtic lost to Motherwell in a performance that left many Hoops fans angry, upset and confused.

But not as confused as they were when they learned the Celtic boss had decided to take off Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda at half time when the Hoops were 1-0 down and chasing a goal.

• READ MORE: Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic position is untenable now after Motherwell comments

Celtic boss ‘concerned’ about injuries to Tierney and Maeda

Tierney and Maeda are two of Celtic’s best attacking and defensive threats, so when it transpired that neither were to emerge from the Fir Park tunnel for the final 45 minutes, the Hoops support could not believe what they were watching.

And here, Nancy explains all as he admits he was worried about injuries to the Celtic duo.

Nancy told the Daily Record, “It was planned to do it because Daizen and Kieran played a lot of minutes. In the beginning, I wanted them to be on the bench but also I wanted them to be part of this game because they are important.

Where does Wilfried Nancy go from here?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

“So that’s why the idea was to give them only 45 minutes for this game. They were tired.

“So they ran a lot and they did more sprints since we came in. They did a lot of sprints. So physically I have a concern with that.

“I don’t want them to be injured. So I needed also to make choices regarding that.”

Why Wilfried Nancy’s Celtic substitutions were all wrong

In a way, we can understand the Celtic manager’s thinking but he’s made a monumental error here.

Clearly with the Rangers game in mind, Nancy wanted to wrap up his two best players. But that should only have been done if the game was drawn level or being won, not when Celtic were struggling to create chances, never mind put them away.

There is absolutely no point in thinking about the game ahead when Celtic are losing the game they are playing as it renders what may or may not happen in the future moot.

One thing is for sure, if Nancy starts both players and Celtic still lose to Rangers with them in the team, what does that make his decision look like then?