Callum McGregor suggests that Wilfried Nancy’s decision to change “too much too soon” was a deciding factor in the Frenchman’s disastrous reign.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Sunday’s table-topping clash at Tynecastle, the Celtic captain thinks the “big change” was overwhelming for the squad.
“To go from a team that is super aggressive on the front foot for 10 plus years, playing a certain way and then you bring in the nuance of the league and playing in Scotland, my belief is that you get as much pressure on the ball as much as you can and try and press the game as high as you can and actually eliminates a lot of the defending that you have to do in terms of box defending.
“Not to say that it can’t work, but I think everybody is well aware of the time and no pre-season and so many games, so many important games.
“Really, really tough situation to come in and have a game every three days where you’re almost learning in the game, and we all know that trying to learn in this environment is probably the harshest environment that you can have.”
Nancy’s 33-day tenure was defined by a League Cup Final loss to St Mirren and damaging home defeats to Rangers and Hearts. A return of just two wins from eight games is dismal for a club of Celtic’s stature; as toxicity mounted, the board moved prematurely to sack the former Columbus Crew boss.
Central to his struggles was the immediate decision to scrap Celtic’s established 4-3-3 in favour of his own 3-4-3 system, a setup that interim manager Martin O’Neill has already reverted from. Reflecting on the period, Callum McGregor admitted the poor run of form had begun to take a heavy toll on the squad.
“When you take away that confidence, everybody starts to struggle with that.
“You have to go to the pitch and have confidence and belief in yourself and, ultimately, when you lose games, that does waver.
“We’re all human beings at the end of the day, so it does affect you.”
Martin O’Neill’s return has restored belief in the side. Thursday’s ten-man draw in Bologna proves his ability to galvanise the squad, and a win at Tynecastle will now put Celtic within reach of the top
“There’s been so many negative stories going about this season. There actually is so much positive to look forward to, so much to play for and the players have drawn a line under it,” the 32-year-old added.
“I think now for everyone externally as well, we have to draw a line under it and move forward because if we keep dwelling on it, we aren’t going to achieve what it is we want to achieve.
“The players are at peace with that, and we know we’ve put ourselves in a difficult position, but still in the conversation with a huge game to come on Sunday.”
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