The appointment of Wilfried Nancy as Celtic manager always promised to be something different. Six games in, that billing appears to be a gross understatement.
Part of you feels like applauding the boldness of the Frenchman for introducing such a radically different template in the middle of a season. Part of you wonders about the sense of it all.
The statistics are already extraordinary. Thirteen goals conceded across those six games and 10 scored. A vortex of exhilarating forward play and calamitous defensive errors. Recipes for success and disaster coming seconds apart.
‘Nancy-ball’ is unquestionably entertaining, but needing three goals to win any game is a fool’s errand. And it plainly cannot go on like this.
As Arne Engels correctly identifies, unless Celtic quickly get their heads around what’s required and smarten up at the back, they won’t continue to get the rewards that their risk-taking against Livingston and Aberdeen brought them.
‘I think we just need to work on the little details that help us in the defensive part and then we can be able to not concede many,’ said the Belgian. ‘We know that we have conceded way too many goals now and we need to work on that.
Nancy tries to cajole his players from the touchline amid the chaos of the Livingston game
Bottom club Livingston needed only three minutes to breach Celtic’s defence last weekend
Engels celebrates his penalty strike that gave Celtic a cushion and is calling for improvement
‘Obviously, it’s new to play with the three or five in defence, whatever you want to call it. It’s new for us and everybody is adapting to it. It’s up to us to work on it.’
For Nancy’s midfielders too, adapting to the new system without having the luxury of a pre-season has been hugely challenging. Previously deployed in an interchangeable central three, they have had to get used to playing as a four-man ‘box’.
On Saturday at Almondvale, Engels was again positioned deeper beside Callum McGregor with Daizen Maeda and Benjamin Nygren further up the field. At times, the sheer number of bodies in the central area was bewildering.
‘Obviously it’s different, really crowded in the middle,’ added Engels. ‘But we know that, and everybody is trying to adapt to that new style and it’s good to play.
‘I’m used to playing with the midfielders there and I’ve played so many games with Callum (McGregor). Everybody is doing a really good job and I think we are improving every game, and that is being rewarded with the three points so that’s a really good thing.’
The smart money is on Nancy (below) recruiting wide players to suit his system next month. While Engels isn’t completely averse to moving to wing-back, he’s content with his current lot.
‘I played some games there, but I am a midfielder and I am playing really well over the last games and I want to improve there as a player,’ he stressed.
‘If the manager wants to put me there (wide) then obviously I need to play there and we will discuss it. But it’s good how it is now and I’m looking forward to playing there (centrally) in the next few games.’
Livingston’s Colombian full-back Montano celebrates his second goal after only eight minutes
Livingston striker Tete Yengi causes panic in the Celtic defence as the hosts threaten again
The first half of Celtic’s win in West Lothian succinctly summed up the chaos of it all. Nancy’s men twice went behind yet impressively responded. There were six goals all told with four of them coming inside the first 10 minutes.
There was a lot for Celtic fans to admire yet a great deal to concern them, too. Asked if he’d ever experienced an opening to a match like it, Engels said: ‘No, never actually. It was a crazy start, but we managed to come through. It can always happen, but we need to learn from it because we twice came back from a goal behind and that’s not really great. We need to go in front and be better in the first minutes of this game.’
The one moment of calmness actually came from the Belgian as he nonchalantly stroked home his side’s fourth from the penalty spot to open up a two-goal lead.
‘Yeah, I missed the last one (against Roma) and I wasn’t really happy with that,’ he recalled. ‘I’m not somebody that will step back from penalties. I’m confident in myself, I know that I can do it and I’ve shown it lots of times.
‘Nobody has doubts on the penalty taker that I am, so it’s up to me to keep working on that and don’t miss. I was in the zone.’
So manic was the game up to that point that you could have named your price if you fancied that there would be no more goals.
Nancy certainly needed a much calmer second half. The fervent hope of all of a Celtic persuasion will be that the control his side showed thereafter is a sign of things to come.
By hook or by crook, two wins have now been chalked up. If a third can be claimed at Fir Park tonight then belief will grow that there’s method in the madness.
Wilfried Nancy was pleased to have secured a second straight win but still has much to ponder
‘I feel like there is a lot of improvement,’ added Engels. ‘Obviously, we are still conceding a lot of goals and that can’t really happen if you want to win big games.
‘It’s up to us to keep improving, looking at the details and not concede that many. We score a lot and that’s a really positive feeling.’
A tough enough venue at the best of times, Celtic will have no margin for error at Fir Park against a Motherwell side who’ve lost just once at home this season.
The visit of Rangers may be just around the corner, but Nancy’s side will need no one to tell them that they can ill afford to let their minds drift towards that encounter on Saturday.
‘Every week is really big, we know that,’ said Engels. ‘The games are really coming at a fast tempo, so it’s up to us to have a really good feeling in every game and win every game.
‘Really, we can’t lose any more points, and we know that and I think everybody is really focused on every game with a good feeling. I’m really looking forward to the next games. We are in a good flow and hopefully nobody can stop us. I’m in a really happy place, playing a lot and feeling really confident.
‘I had a difficult period at the beginning of the season because I didn’t really play a lot but I have shown a lot of resilience and I’m getting better and better, showing everyone what player I am.
‘It’s up to me to keep this form and move on. You can’t change the past, you need to look forward.
‘I’m really happy with how it’s going now and I hope I can contribute a lot to the team.’
