Wilfried Nancy has downplayed the importance of another Celtic setback, insisting the Scottish Premiership crown is still very much attainable despite suffering a sixth defeat in eight outings as Celtic boss…
Celtic went down 3–1 to Rangers, a scoreline that felt particularly painful given a strong first-half display that was capped by a superb opener from Yang.
The contest swung sharply after the break, however, with Youssef Chermiti netting twice and Mikey Moore adding another to swing the match convincingly in favour of Danny Rohl’s side. The loss means Nancy has now managed only two wins from his opening eight games since replacing Martin O’Neill after his eye-catching interim period.
Rangers’ victory also compressed the title battle, pulling them level on points with Celtic and leaving both clubs six points behind leaders Hearts, who edged Livingston 1-0 at Tynecastle yesterday.
Asked if he still believes his side can lift the league title for a fifth straight season, Nancy was emphatic when speaking via The Celtic Star: “Yes.”
Pressed on the reasoning behind that confidence, he explained: “Because I watched every game and I saw many, many good things that we did, like today again.”
“But now it’s about consistency. So my narrative would not be the same if it was not the case. But this is the case for the moment. So that’s why I am a big believer that we’re going to be able to turn things around.”
When asked what he would say to supporters, Nancy added: “Yes, I can understand that. I think that they were behind us in the first half. They pushed us in a good way.”
“After that, I can understand why they are disappointed regarding the fact that we had many possibilities to win the game. I know that I repeat myself, but it happened in the past also. We are in many games. I think that they really enjoyed the first half.”
“I saw a team of players that they were giving everything with the ball and without the ball. So they see the direction that we want to go, but consistently for 95 minutes.”
“After that, the fact that I know the meaning of this game, I know that and it’s worrying for them. But what I can tell them is what we did during the first half and also a certain moment in the second half. This is what we want to do.”
“But at the same time, we know that we cannot accept to conceded goals like this. And this is something that we’re going to work on.” (indirectly putting the blame on the defence for the goals conceded and defeat to Rangers)