da heads bet： Celtic are in the process of attempting to make Columbus Crew head coach Wilfried Nancy their permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers, who left the club last month.
da betcris： Fabrizio Romano claims that the Hoops are in talks with the French manager over a move to Parkhead, as they look to get a deal done in the days and weeks to come.
Celtic are due to play St Mirren away from home in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday and the club have already confirmed that Martin O’Neill will take charge once again as the interim manager.
Once Nancy is in the building, should a deal get done, it will be interesting to see which players fail to make the cut if he goes with the system he has played in the MLS.
Players Wilfried Nancy might drop from Celtic's squad
Per Transfermarkt, the Frenchman’s preferred formation is a 3-4-2-1 and that would be interesting to see play out with the wide and full-back options that Celtic have.
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Jahmai Simpson-Pusey played at right-back last time out, but is a centre-back by trade, and could drop into a back three alongside Auston Trusty and Liam Scales.
That would free up a right wing-back spot. Anthony Ralston, who has no assists in 11 appearances this season, does not have the offensive quality to play in that role, so Nancy could use a player like Forrest to be an attack-minded wing-back.
That could see Ralston drop out of the squad, as he is not suited to playing as a centre-back or as a wing-back in that system, but he was only on the bench against Kilmarnock, so it would not be a major change to the squad.
An even bolder move that could be made by Nancy would be to instantly ditch Sebastian Tounekti from the starting line-up for his first match in charge, whenever that ends up being.
Why Wilfried Nancy should drop Sebastian Tounekti
It may seem like a bold call to suggest that the winger should be dropped from the team, because he has provided the supporters with some excitement since his move to the club from Hammarby in the summer.
Earlier this season, pundit Michael Stewart described the Tunisia international Celtic’s “danger man” and claimed that he “unsettles defences”, thanks to his direct and aggressive play out wide.
However, Tounekti has only scored two goals and has failed to provide any assists in 13 appearances in all competitions for Celtic, per Sofascore, which shows that there has been a lack of quality in the final third to back up his exciting build-up play.
The 23-year-old forward started on the left flank against Kilmarnock for O’Neill last time out in the Premiership, and put in a rather dismal display for the Hoops.
Minutes
78
Shots
2
Goals
0
Key passes
0
Big chances created
0
Assists
0
Crosses completed
0/2
Dribbles completed
2/10
Possession lost
23x
As you can see in the table above, Tounekti lost the ball a staggering 23 times in 78 minutes on the pitch, without creating a single chance for his teammates in that time.
A wasteful performance like that could see Nancy immediately remove him from the starting line-up, on top of it potentially being a sensible decision for tactical reasons.
If the Frenchman goes with the aforementioned 3-4-2-1, Kieran Tierney or Marcelo Saracchi would offer the width as the left wing-back and Celtic would need a player to play more centrally as a left-sided ten behind the striker, which is not Tounekti’s style.
Instead, those two ten roles may be more suited to Arne Engels, as explained in the linked article below, and Daizen Maeda. This, along with his performance against Kilmarnock, is why Nancy should instantly ditch Tounekti from the starting XI if and when he has his first game in charge.
Nancy could turn "world-class" Celtic star into the new Matt O'Riley
Celtic have a “world-class” star who could explode under Wilfried Nancy at Parkhead.
ByDan Emery