CELTIC 1 HEARTS 2
WILFRIED NANCY was introduced to life as Celtic manager with a truly awful and uninspiring loss to Hearts at Parkhead this afternoon.
The opportunity for the Frenchman to start with a win that would have launched the champions back to the Premiership pinnacle was lost in the midst of misplaced passes, miserable finishing and dreadful all-round play.
It would have been impossible to single out a solitary Hoops player for passmarks. It was THAT bad.
After the delights of seven wins in eight games under interim boss Martin O’Neill, it was back to dismay under his successor.
Nancy spent breaks in play with a mini tactics board and showing it to captain Callum McGregor. It may have been more profitable for the new manager to shout some instructions from the touchline.
His booming voice may have had more effect than footering around with tiny pieces of plastic while his team slumped to their first defeat since they last lost to the same team in late October. That didn’t end well for Brendan Rodgers.
Maybe something got lost in the translation, but once the smoke of battle had cleared and Kieran Tierney’s stoppage-time strike only acted as mere window-dressing, Celtic were three points behind Derek McInnes’ team.
CONSOLATION GOAL…Kieran Tierney strikes in stoppage-time, but it’s too late to save Celtic from defeat in Wilfriend Nancy’s debut outing at Parkhead.
As far as first impressions go, this was massively disappointing. We can only hope Nancy accepts it as an early wake-up call.
At the interval, the hosts were left to rue two bewildering misses from Daizen Maeda when Claudio Braga scored with the Edinburgh team’s first short on target.
It was an astonishing half-time scoreline after the champions had dominated play and Kasper Schmeichel had been a virtual spectator.
Maeda spurned a glorious opportunity in the ninth minute after the Danish keeper had picked out Kieran Tierney on the left with a superb ball.
The Scotland international pitched a pass into space for the galloping Maeda and the fans held their breath as the Japanese speedster, the hero against Dundee in midweek, completely fluffed his angled drive and sent a shot straight into the arms of the grateful Alexander Schwolow.
Only moments later, Maeda contrived to miss the target completely from 10 yards after being set up by Sebastian Tounekti.
Once again, the home support anticipated the ball bulging the Hearts net and once again the striker blew the chance with a woeful attempt.
The Hoops had the bulk of possession and dictated the flow of play, but the killer pass was missing and at times it looked as though Arne Engels and Benjamin Nygren were on different wavelengths to that of their team-mates with a stream of wasteful passes.
Left-footed Auston Trusty didn’t look comfortable in a back-three formation and being asked to take a more prominent role on the right.
Tounekti flattered to deceive on the left and produced virtually nothing apart from his ball to Maeda that ended with a weak effort wide of the upright.
While Celtic fumbled in their attempts to find the vital breathrough strike, the Tynecastle side showed them how it was done in the 43rd minute.
The home players and the fans screamed for offside against Lawrence Shankland, but referee Don Robertson allowed play to continue and TV cameras showed Engels had just played on the striker.
The ball bounced around the box and Harry Milne mishit a shot that was miscontrolled by McGregor and the persistent Braga pounced to sweep a low shot past the stranded Schmeichel.
In an instant, all the Hoops’ hard work had been obliterated.
It was no surprise when the ineffective Tounekti was withdrawn in the 59th minute with Luke McCowan introduced to the action.
However, some lamentable defending allowed a right-wing corner-kick from Harry Milne to travel all the way to the unmarked Oisin McEntee who glanced a header low past Schmeichel at his right-hand post for No.2 in the 65th minute.
Nancy’s immediate reaction was to throw on Johnny Kenny for Nygren.
There was a lot of huffing and puffing and no sign of inspiration as the visitors ran down the clock.
There was a glimmer of hope in the 87th minute when Tierney thumped in a left-wing cross, but Engels’ close-range header hit the keeper and ricocheted to Hatate.
The playmaker hit it first-time and shuddered the crossbar and this time it rebounded to McCowan in a great position, but he sent a wayward shot wide of the left-hand post.
Tierney had better luck in the fourth minute of stoppage-time when he whipped in a low drive after another skirmish in the penalty box, but it was too little too late.
It must be hoped Nancy will be more clued up when AS Roma turn up at the same venue on Europa League duty on Thursday night.
TEAM: Schmeichel; Trusty, Scales, Tierney; Nygren (sub: Kenny 65), Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Yang, Maeda and Tounekti (sub: McCowan 59)
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