Chris Sutton believes Wilfried Nancy has found a solution to his problem in one player he’s too good
Chris Sutton defends Celtic manager claiming lack of attacking cutting edge is ‘not on Wilf’ after first win
Wilfried Nancy managed his first win of the season in five attempts against 10-man Aberdeen.
The Hoops boss earned a much-needed victory at home to the Dons, but once again Celtic’s wastefulness in front of goal didn’t go unnoticed.
After a strong start, Benjamin Nygren gave the hosts the lead when he tapped in from a Daizen Maeda cross. The Hoops were then given a boost on the stroke of half time as Dylan Lobban tripped the Japanese striker when he was through on goal, culminating in a red card. Despite being a man down, the Dons equalised through Kenan Bilalovic in a goal Kasper Schmeichel won’t want to look back at in a hurry. However, a late Kieran Tierney header and James Forrest tap-in gave Celtic the three points.
Wilfried Nancy was the first Celtic manager since 1978 to lose four games in a row, so the Aberdeen victory will be a sigh of relief. Although what will worry the new Hoops boss, is once again they missed several chances and could’ve had seven or eight on another day, having hit the post five times. Former Celtic striker turned pundit, Chris Sutton believes the opportunities his old side are missing cannot be blamed on the manager.
Missed chances ‘not on Wilf’
After the game, Sutton said on X, “I don’t agree with everything Wilf has done and wasn’t at Celtic Park today but it sounds like loads of chances missed once again. Celtic’s greatest issue has not being able to create and convert and that’s not on Wilf… he has got what he’s got and it’s not top drawer.”
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The comments come just five days after Celtic’s defeat to Dundee United, where they also missed a plethora of chances, including two open goals. After the match, Sutton said that Hoops strikers Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada weren’t good enough to play for Celtic.
Against Aberdeen, Kenny was wasteful yet again which further highlights the Hoops need for a striker in the transfer window. Not for the first time this season, it was clear to see that Kyogo Furuhashi and Adam Idah haven’t been adequately replaced at number nine.
What Wilfried Nancy said after the Aberdeen win
The new gaffer was over the moon to get off the mark and was happy with his side’s attacking intent. He told Celtic TV: “I am happy for the guys. I think we deserve more wins. But today was the day in terms of how we play. The product of the red card, this is what I like because we wanted to go forward so I think that defensively when we lost the ball we really saw the difference in transition.
“The way we scored the first goal, we lost the ball and after that we did a really good defensive transition, and then after that we did a really good attacking run. And then we scored more goals. I’ve never seen that in my life, hitting the post five times in one game but to be honest, this is our story. But my team showed a lot of resilience, because we got caught on the equaliser and that was a difficult moment. They showed great resilience to attack again to score two more goals. So really, really happy for them.”
