Wilfried Nancy will have a good Christmas after the Celtic boss delivered a big win against Aberdeen at the weekend.
There were rumours that the Celtic manager could be on his way out after Nancy oversaw four straight defeats since his arrival in Glasgow.
However, Celtic’s performance against Aberdeen was one that surprised many supporters after watching the team capitulate against Hearts, St Mirren and Dundee United.
What do you think of these stats from Celtic’s win over Aberdeen? Let us know in the comments.
And here, Nancy explains how a dose of truth prior to the win could explain why his Celtic players put in such a performance to leave Jimmy Thelin’s Aberdeen shell-shocked.
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Wilfried Nancy’s interesting post-match Celtic routine
Celtic fans could be forgiven for thinking that Nancy had run out of ideas to inspire the players despite seeing glimpses of what he was trying to do in the previous four losses.
The attacking football at Celtic Park on Sunday was a joy to watch and it appears that the Celtic manager’s post-match routine could explain why.
Nancy told The Herald, “After each game, I watch the game, and I take time for that, two or three hours sometimes. Action by action, cycle after cycle, because I want to be really specific.
“I don’t like to talk, I like to show things. And since the beginning, when I came here, after our first game, I showed them clips where we did really good things but the outcome was not there.
“Every time, I was able to show them good things, and I was also able to show them things that we need to improve. And the idea was to be coherent, and to accept that we’re going to get difficult moments.
“Nine games in 27 days – this is so difficult. They didn’t play so much, so it’s going to be next week, the first week, with only one game.”
Nancy’s ‘honest’ assessment of Celtic performances inspires Aberdeen win
With more time on the training pitch, Nancy will get the chance to implement his ideas to the Celtic team.
But it seems that being truthful to the Hoops squad is what may have inspired the Celtic players’ big Aberdeen performance.
Nancy continued, “When I came, I put my shoes in the shoes of my players. New coach, they were winning, suddenly they lose. New methodology, new ways of doing things. It’s totally normal that something like this happens.
“My job was to show them what they did well, what we need to improve, and to be honest with them. Tonight, we have the outcome, but as I said before, we deserve more wins. Today was the day, so I cannot explain, but this is the situation.
It doesn’t appear that the Celtic players don’t want to play for Wilfried Nancy. This is a nice wee moment.
“We gave everything, and I think that the challenge that I gave them, the last game, we lost the game in three minutes. But I don’t think that we gave everything during the set-piece. And for me, this is all the kind of fact that I like to show to my players, to see where they are, and to see where we want to go.”
Whatever Nancy told them, it clearly worked. The Frenchman is starting to get a tune out of them and it would be great to see that continue against Livingston.
Another win will set Celtic up nicely for Motherwell and then the big Glasgow Derby in January which, if Nancy could win, would effectively end Rangers’ slim title hopes.
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