Wilfried Nancy addresses Celtic future after calamitous Rangers defeat ramps sack talk to fever pitch

Wilfried Nancy has answered questions on his future as Celtic head coach after a humbling 3-1 derby defeat to Rangers at Parkhead.

The Hoops have lost six games out of eight under his tenure and after losing at Motherwell midweek, collapsed in the second half of the Old Firm. Yang put Celtic ahead after an impressive attacking display in the first half but defensive woes crept in again to allow a Youssef Chermiti double and Mikey Moore effort to down the champions on their own patch.

Nancy launched a passionate defence of his tenure pre-match but his team were undone by a woeful defensive performance. The Celtic boss has now been asked again on his future as talk of sacking season ramps up, as club hero Chris Sutton proclaimed on Sky Sports co-commentary that Nancy will be ‘fortunate’ to survive the game. Michael Stewart meanwhile said it’s an ‘untenable position for Wilfried Nancy.’

Wilfried Nancy on his Celtic future

Nancy said when asked about his future, ahead of next week’s game in the league against Dundee United: “Yes, I can understand that (why the focus is on me). This is part of my job. For me, nothing has changed. My focus is to help my players to be better, help my team, my staff to be better and to find a way to turn things around. Because, like I said, we are really close to doing good things, but in terms of what we consider goals, sometimes it's difficult.

“The we, not me is here. I will look at the performance again. After that, there is details at certain moments. So, again, the commitment, the desire to play, the desire to compete, the desire to fight. Again, first half, but also so many games that we did.

“I know (the results are not there), I know. But for the moment, the situation is regarding what we do. Yes, I want to win games - we all want to win games. But this is the reality for the moment. But I see many, many good things. That's why the frustration is here, because we deserve better. We have to stay together and everything's going to move forward.”

Will Celtic change their style under Wilfried Nancy

Asked what his message is to fed-up supporters, Nancy added: “Keep working. Keep doing what we want to do. And then things will work out for us.”

Pre-match, Nancy again doubled down on his persistence with his system, a three at the back system with wing-backs. He told Sportsound: "The adaption is about the emotion, how we can play with emotion but balance the emotion in good moments and difficult moments, this is the key.

"We're going to play to compete [and] do everything to win this game. I like to adapt. The meaning of adapt for you, I don't know what that means. For me, I'm able to adapt."