Going by the reaction of Wilfried Nancy’s first game in charge of Celtic, you would think he has been in charge for months and months, and put the place on fire.
Martin O’Neill did a stellar job at Celtic, and many felt that he should have stayed on a little longer to keep the momentum going.
That’s fine, but if Celtic had lost a domestic game under O’Neill, those very same critics would have been questioning why it’s taking so long to appoint Nancy.
And now that Nancy is in the building, following Celtic’s defeat to Hearts on Sunday, the noise hasn’t just been around the timing of his arrival, but also his call to change the system to a 3-4-3.
Where did it go wrong for Wilfired Nancy against Hearts?
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
👇 Join the debate; share your insight. Use the comment button on the bottom left to have your say
Martin Keown sends Arsene Wenger example to Wilfried Nancy
Martin Keown feels Nancy was wrong to change the system straight away, and he should have kept O’Neill’s ball rolling.
The former defender compared Nancy’s situation to when Arsene Wenger first joined Arsenal in 1996, and he was a senior player in the dressing room.
Speaking on talkSPORT, Keown shared that Arsenal were ‘playing a back five’, but rather than change it up, Wenger ‘waited a whole 12 months to change it’, and he feels Nancy should have done the same.
“I think the clever thing to do, and I have seen it first hand when Arsene Wenger first came into Arsenal,” said Keown.
“We were playing a back five. He didn’t want to play a five. He wanted to play a four. He waited a whole 12 months to change it. Because he said, ‘Okay, I have inherited this. You guys are on trial. Not me.’
“But as soon as you make the change, the focus is on you, and I think that’s the problem here. He should have left it. They were familiar with that system. They had won well under Martin, and to make those changes makes it about him.
“You lose the players a little bit, so he has some work to do there.”
Keown surprised by Celtic’s call on Martin O’Neill
The argument of O’Neill staying on board is understandable, and he perhaps should have overseen Celtic’s League Cup Final against St Mirren.
But the criticism of Nancy changing the system needs to be watered down, because he has been employed to do what he knows best.
Either way, Keown spoke about O’Neill doing punditry work after leaving Celtic, and how he was ‘surprised’ the club didn’t keep him ‘closer to the action’ to help Nancy out.
“When you come in as a new manager, it looks to me that he changed the system,” said Keown. “They have been playing a back four.
“You can only be wrong if you make that change. I am actually surprised that Martin O’Neill wasn’t kept closer to the action. I saw that he was working on TV at the weekend. I couldn’t believe it. I thought maybe they would keep him in the building.
“It’s quite unsettling for the players. This is a huge game, isn’t it? A massive impact on who is going to win the Championship this season.”
Join Our Newsletter
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox