Not what the doctor ordered for Wilfried Nancy at Celtic.
Celtic supporters had to wait a long time for Nancy to arrive following Brendan Rodgers’ exit in October, and in the meantime, Martin O’Neill completely flipped the mood at the club.
Yet, in next to no time, it has all reverted to those dark days at the start of the season after Celtic were thrashed by Roma in the Europa League on Thursday night.
That’s two defeats out of two for Nancy, and even pundits in America have been questioning why the former MLS coach changed things up so quickly.
- READ MORE: Gordon Dalziel admits he is shocked at ‘remarkable’ criticism of Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy
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CBS Sports pundit on Wilfried Nancy’s start at Celtic
Former USMNT international Charlie Davies told CBS Sports that it’s a different level of pressure at Celtic compared to what Nancy has been used to in the MLS.
Davies stated that Nancy can afford to ‘try different tactics’ with the likes of Columbus Crew, and you ‘trust the process.’
But such a thing doesn’t exist in a pressure cooker like Celtic, with Nigel Reo-Coker adding that Nancy needs to take responsibility for losing to Roma more than the Hearts game.
Charlie Davies: “The first thing you do is you look at the situation, which is he is coming into a new club with big expectations.
“In Major League Soccer, you can roll out any line-up. You can try different tactics. You can lose a game, and there is no reason to panic. You can say, ‘trust the process.’
“Here, you have to meet the demands, which is winning now. You don’t have a grace period. There is no leniency. He comes in, changes it drastically, changes the formation, and changes the style.”
Nigel Reo-Coker: “There are many layers you can look into it. For this, yes, the loss (against Roma) is on him for this one.
“I feel he has tried to implement his style far too quickly at a club he has just joined – you are playing in the Europa League, against Roma. This isn’t a Mickey Mouse club. This is a club in the Scudetto race in Serie A.
“You want to take a team that is very direct, very organised and composed. To now, play total football against a Roma side that hasn’t had to make many changes from when Claudio Ranieri had them and taking them on an upward trajectory.”
Celtic ‘knew who they were hiring’ after Martin O’Neill’s exit
But looking at it on the other side of the coin, Nico Cantor wanted to defend Nancy by stating that ‘Celtic knew who they were hiring’ after O’Neill’s successful interim spell in charge.
But Reo-Coker wanted to shut that down, as he argued that, as a coach, especially at a club like Celtic, you need to learn to ‘adapt’, and also ‘win straight away.’
Clearly, Nancy hasn’t done that, and it now puts even more pressure on the Frenchman’s shoulders ahead of Celtic’s League Cup final against St Mirren on Sunday at Hampden.
Nico Cantor: “Celtic knew who they were hiring. Given all of this. The timing of it all. It’s not ideal that Martin O’Neill took the club. Won five games in a row. You show up to the most important game against Hearts, and then after that, it’s a match against Roma.
“They understood that they were getting this manager who plays a back three. Complex modern football, with midfielders dropping in. Overlapping from the wing-backs. If you want to make it a progression, and not make it so drastic from one moment to the next. It is almost black and white from what they were playing. You have got to know who they are hiring.”
Reo-Coker: “No problem. Celtic knew who they were hiring. But at the same point, you, as a manager, know what you are walking into.
“When you walk into Celtic or Rangers. It’s a different pressure valve. You need to win straight away to get the fans onside. You know you’re simple. You don’t have to change. I don’t like the word change. You have to adapt. Adapting is different to changing.”
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