Wilfried Nancy hasn’t been coaching in a highly thought-of league, but that doesn’t mean the soon-to-be Celtic manager hasn’t faced some of the best of all time in the MLS.
Inter Miami are owned by David Beckham, and as you can imagine, they have a star-studded team, which includes some Barcelona greats, such as Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba on the pitch, as well as Javier Mascherano patrolling the touchline.
As Nancy closes in on the Celtic job, Go Radio provided the Celtic Park faithful with an insight into how he fared when he came up against Messi and his Inter Miami side in June.
Richard Foster shared that he was in Miami in June to witness Nancy’s crew get slapped 5-1, and Messi expose one of the Frenchman’s high-risk tactics.
Photo by Kirk Irwin/Getty ImagesInter Miami’s Lionel Messi against Celtic’s manager target Wilfried Nancy
Celtic fans would have done their homework on their new possible coach and learned the expansive style he likes to play in a three-at-the-back formation.
Foster told the Hoops supporters, ‘wait till you see how high the (defensive) line is’, including how it was exposed by Messi, who netted a brace and supplied two assists in a thumping 5-1 win.
“When we went to Miami over the summer,” shared Foster. “We watched Inter Miami play against the Columbus Crew.
“Wait till you see how high the line is. I would caveat that with Busquets and Messi just kept chipping the ball to each other. I think Messi scored two that game. I think he set up two.
“Every time they squeezed up. They just dinked the ball over you. Time your run from midfield, and they were in every single time.
“Now, he’s a genius, and Busquets isn’t bad either. But I am just saying, the way he likes to play. It probably suits Celtic, because they are going to have to have most of the ball and they are going to be high up the pitch.”
Injury-hit Celtic dealing with Nancy’s high line
Celtic have a host of injuries right now, including a lack of balance and depth at the back, especially if Nancy wants to play three at the back.
As of this moment, Foster thinks Celtic’s backline, if told to play that high up the pitch, and without their main starting players, would ‘struggle’ to deal with Nancy’s high-risk strategy.
“But I don’t think, at the moment, Celtic have the quality or the depth, because of the injuries, to be forcing teams back and keeping that high line,” added Foster.
“You keep flipping the ball behind the Celtic defender, and I think they would struggle.”