Wilfried Nancy urged to stop over-complicating Celtic role and take a leaf out of Martin O'Neill's book
A former Leeds United and Crystal Palace boss believes Nancy shouldn’t ‘bamboozle’ his players with tactics.
After Wilfried Nancy became the first Celtic boss to lose his first two games in charge, a former manager has urged him to go back to basics.
The Frenchman lost 2-1 at home to Hearts in a crucial top-of-the-table clash in his first game, then named an unchanged XI against Roma in the Europa League, where they were on the wrong end of a 3-0 scoreline. With it being so early on in his tenure, perhaps losing to league leaders Hearts and a star-studded Roma team can be forgiven while he tries to implement his own style, however defeat to St Mirren in Sunday’s League Cup Final would be something of a catastrophe.
Just over a week since his appointment, the new tactics that he’s trying to implement are already being placed under the microscope. From his previous jobs, it was no surprise that he deployed three at the back in his first two matches, however thus far, it appears several members the squad are struggling to adapt to their new defensive roles. With a huge Cup Final around the corner, former interim Aberdeen boss, Neil Warnock believes Nancy should take some pointers from Martin O’Neill.
‘You shouldn’t bamboozle the players with tactics’
Warnock, who struggled himself during his time managing North of the border, believes Nancy should keep it simple for the time being. He told talkSPORT: “it’s difficult up there.There are so many headlights looking right at you as soon as you take over. But I don’t suppose it helped him (Nancy) that Martin (O’Neill) did a very good job.
“When you read some of the players’ reports, they loved Martin because when you’re getting on a little bit like us, you concentrate on putting your arm round players and telling them what they’re good at, not what they‘re not good at. You don‘t bamboozle them with tactics.
“To come in and change the formation after they’d won seven out of eight games, I just felt it was a case of ‘I’m going to show them what I’m doing.’ When I was told that Nancy was wearing green trainers, I laughed my head off because you just don’t do that up there. Somebody should have pulled him about it really.”
O’Neill’s magic formula
While Martin O’Neill conceded himself that Shaun Maloney was the main one behind training sessions and tactics-talk, the 73-year old brought something that was missing at Celtic Park and brought a sense of belief back amongst the players.
The shock departure of Brendan Rodgers after just guiding them to the League title was bound to have an effect on the players, however O’Neill was able to successfully steady the ship during times of uncertainty on the pitch and in the boardroom. As Warnock says, if Nancy continues to change too much, too quickly, he risks undoing all of the work the Northern Irishman put in during his five weeks.