The principle problem in the first half is the same Celtic have had for a year – they are unable to pass through a press. Roma are simply better at the press than Dundee, so the consequences last night were more acute. In the opening minutes, the visitors had six players in their forward third when Celtic attempted to play out from the back. It worked.
A team’s ability to play out is determined by shape and ball control. Wilfried Nancy learned lots during the opening 45+ minutes on his new side’s capacity in these areas.
Mercifully, Roma dropped the pace in the second half, however, Nancy changed several things which suggests he learned from that opening period. As you and I discussed earlier this week, Auston Trusty and Liam Scales should be moved one place to the left of where they were against Hearts and in the opening period against Roma. Trusty in the middle, Scales left and Kieran Tierney hooked for Colby Donovan. I expect a lesson has been learned and that’s the last we will see of Auston on the right of a back three.
Wilfried must be wondering what all the fuss is about Daizen Maeda. He now knows Daizen is not a striker (you and I discussed this on Tuesday). Our MVP from last season was also hooked at halftime for the return of Kelechi Iheanacho. I hadn’t hoped we would see 45 minutes from Kelechi for a few weeks yet, but from his first to last touch, you could see what a difference playing with an actual striker makes. Another lesson was learned and fitness issues aside, I doubt we will see Daizen through the middle again.
Benjamin Nygren’s goal contributions have been a big part of our story so far this season but he clearly put his boots on the wrong feet last night. The introduction of the correctly attired Paulo Bernardo improved our ball control enormously. He played deeper than Nygren. This subtle change of shape gave Callum McGregor more options and freed Reo Hatate to have a good second half. The Portuguese did very well considering he was parachuted into such an environment from the wilderness.
Improvements to shape and ball control happened sooner than expected. Napoleon, who 200 years ago conquered Rome, said, “I would rather have a lucky general than a good one.” Better still to have a general who learns fast.
Yesterday we spoke about Roma being a free hit with low expectations and the lesser game of our week. Tomorrow we will talk about the cup final, and a chance to write history.
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None of them
Reform wins a council seat in whitburn and Blackburn. Local labour team must be neglecting their oo pals.
As for Nygren. A genuine contender for the worst performance ever. Dear me.
A word of advice for him or anyone. Never cup your ears to the fans. It will never end well.
the Bada Bing on 12th December 2025 12:09 pm
If anyone is wanting rid of the manager, you need to look a bit deeper….
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They can maybe look in a mirror first. I know last night was grim and has been for quite a time, but it does my nut in that some just automatically boo. I’ve never done it and never will
ziggydoc1
I would never boo a Celtic team/manager but I would happily boo that shower of charlatans on the board.
Ziggy- same,never booed a player or team performance, it doesn’t make them play better, I think Callum needs to sit down with the manager for a couple of hours
Vale answered it better……
Nygren cost 1.3m in today’s money, anyone who thinks we were getting a player for that money from a league scouted by the Germans Danes and Dutch is expecting a lot, he doesnt have much physicality or backbone it would seem.
It’s ridiculous to call for the head of a manager after 2 games but it’s even more ridiculous for a club like Celtic to appoint a manager with the cb Nancy has.
He’s an idealist/a dreamer and that won’t work out so why give him time?
Nobody truly has faith in him and importantly that will include the players. They look lost. They look like they did before MON came in.
The bigger picture of the shambles of a club, a joke of a board, a substandard recruitment team and a divided support are all having the biggest effect but at least having a manager that maximises what he has short term will allow us to do ok.
It appears WN won’t do that. Stubborn idealism over pragmatic common sense.
Ange Postecoglou took over a football dept in disarray, the manager eventually resigned leaving John Kennedy a sinking ship to recover the CEO resigned admitting many mistakes had been made, Celtic blew a 10 in a row opportunity with failed leadership finishing a huge 25 points behind the Govan works team, a sesason to forget
Ange had a stunning opening transfer window and very quickly re invigorated Celtics football dept, his “we never stop” mantra plus has decades of experience managing/coaching with success across Asia both internationally and domestically, he was bullish, had huge self belief, confident with real presence as an individual, he was a winner
Wilfreid Nancy story is yet to unfold, he has had an inauspicious start to say the least
Like many players….some managers under estimate the SPFL Some might even over estimate the quality of a squad and ask them to do things they are just incapable of doing.
I’ve read hundreds of times in the last 14 hours no matter who the manager was we’d have been humped….sorry I don’t buy that..we may well have lost but not like that. If lennons celtic beat a 100x superior barca team ( to last nights roma) then anything is possible through organisation and discipline.
I think DD will not have been impressed and he hates losing…WN might beat Ange’s record of 6 games!!
vale bhoy on 12th December 2025 1:17 pm
ziggydoc1
I would never boo a Celtic team/manager but I would happily boo that shower of charlatans on the board.
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👍
DAVID17 on 12TH DECEMBER 2025 12:59 PM
Evan Ferguson saying our players didn’t know what they were doing.
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All due respect , that is what the headlines say.
What he actually said was subtly but significantly different.
“ Ferguson, speaking to TNT Sports said: “We knew they were in the transition with the managers, they changed the formation. You could see, at times, they played well and it worked and, at times, they didn’t, some people didn’t know what they were doing. I think we just stuck to our gameplan and tried to play the way we play.”
Pressed on whether he was surprised some Celtic players didn’t know what they were doing, Ferguson believes patience can lead to rewards under Nancy’s watch.
The 22-year-old added: “Not really. It’s difficult when a new manager comes in and you need the players to buy into what he’s doing. I think they will and they will be fine.”
I’m maybe doing the guy an injustice but it looked to me that Nancy had done zero research and given zero thought as to how Roma would set up and play . It’s all very well being idealistic about how you want your own team to play but he surely knows enough about our limitations to send out a team with a better chance of avoiding humiliation. One of his key tasks should be to build up the confidence of the players which even a narrow defeat would have done.
“You and I know” that Daizen is not a central striker. So why is that he has been in this position for much of the past year?. There has been a serious failure of recruitment for that position over the past two transfer periods. That failure has to rectified in the coming period. I recognise that and hopefully “you” and those who claim they will support their manager do so to.
On our previous managers initial records – how many of them came in in the middle of a season , when we weren’t top of the league with everyone it seems , fans , previous management and the board at each others throats , with previous full time manager having left overnight?
There’s a unique set of circumstances at play here and anyone who calls for WN to go if we lose on Sunday should be ashamed of themselves.
I’d like to think my club are better than bringing a guy , his coaching staff and their families across oceans and continents to then even consider bagging him after three games.
Frankly, I’d rather win nothing than stoop so low.
FWIW, if these players have the professional pride we expect them to have we should win on Sunday , irrespective of what tactics / systems/ formations we employ.
I expect nothing less.
TANGBHOY on 12TH DECEMBER 2025 1:20 PM
It appears WN won’t do that. Stubborn idealism over pragmatic common sense.
That’s the essence of real concern, it clearly looks to me as if the players are not buying into the philosophy nor the positional changes Wilfreid is asking them to perform
A more practical defined structure to start with for example incorporating his preference for 3 at the back , would be a 3-2-4-1 system with clear defined roles, select players suitable to the roles within the system, and very importantly coach them individually in their roles, in Wilfs all encompassing grandiose system im not seeing any progress we are in constant change/experimenting when time is very much against Wilfreid
GLENDALYSTONSILS on 12TH DECEMBER 2025 1:33 PM
I’m maybe doing the guy an injustice but it looked to me that Nancy had done zero research and given zero thought as to how Roma would set up and play . It’s all very well being idealistic about how you want your own team to play but he surely knows enough about our limitations to send out a team with a better chance of avoiding humiliation. One of his key tasks should be to build up the confidence of the players which even a narrow defeat would have done.
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Not disagreeing about his levels of research – neither of us will ever know – but what research could he have done on Roma that would have prevented an own goal in the 5 minutes or so, a missed penalty at a perfect time , Iheanacho being offside when he didn’t need to be and Maeda’s second touch being a tackle , except for times it went straight out of play off his boot?
They had better players than us in every department and wildly better than us in the final 1/3rd, maybe even 2/3rds.
I doubt one of our players (Callum aside ) would get in that squad , far less the team.
Tisdale will get the bullet, to make the Board feel good about themselves
Paul67 et al
Italian clubs in recent seasons have been there or therabouts in all three Euro tournaments. Inter Milan, Atalanta and Roma the best of the bunch. As a result Italy are near the top of UEFA rankings. Ergo you do not take them lightly. You take them seriously. I said on here yesterday that the problem of treating the match against Roma as a “free pass” (I’m talking to you TBB) is that that is the one thing Roma are not going to give us. And they didn’t. On the other hand I do not see anything to be gained by denigrating our own players as many on here are wont to do. That is straight out of the Brendan Rodgers school of management, and you do not need to be as vehemant as Burnley78. and I’m not, to realise that undermining your own, in any context, is not the way to go. Martin, Shaun, Mark and yes Gavin, showed both at training and out there on the pitch, that another approach can get more out of the same players. Thus far, and Hearts and Roma were never going to be easy games, Brother Wilfried is not achieving that, indeed he is doing the opposite, he is getting less out of them. At least for now.
Bada
That would be a start at least
Not sure about most on here but I’d quite happily relocate across the ocean and get sent back home with a 2.5 year contract fully paid up.
Stooping low for me is publicly shaming a highly successful former employee.
An Dún on 12th December 2025 8:34 am
Nicholson and McKay are on the best salary they’ll ever see. They’ll won’t be resigning- ever.
Desmond is too arrogant to admit his shortcomings so a turbulent period looks to be on the horizon.
An Dun, reading back your comment caught my eye. Simple, accurate summary of the people at the club who make the major decisions (plus at least one other). You’re right – they ain’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Ave Ave
* just waiting on BR getting blamed for last night……
the long wait is over on 12th December 2025 1:46 pm
Fair point , and of course you can’t legislate for mistakes/shortcomings of individual players but Atalanta game showed that if you are prepared to deviate from firm principles it’s sometimes worth doing so .
The players looked as though they were completely shocked and unprepared for what hit them last night which had me wondering if the coaching team had given enough consideration as to what the opposition might do. Just the way it looked to me last night .
glendalystonsils on 12th December 2025 1:33 pm
I’m maybe doing the guy an injustice but it looked to me that Nancy had done zero research and given zero thought as to how Roma would set up and play . It’s all very well being idealistic about how you want your own team to play but he surely knows enough about our limitations to send out a team with a better chance of avoiding humiliation. One of his key tasks should be to build up the confidence of the players which even a narrow defeat would have done.
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Not wanting to be contrary but could the same not have been said about Brendan Rodgers I, Ange and Breandan II? We have seen too many European humpings to think we are pragmatic and play to our strenghts while looking for their weaknesses to get a result, Atalanta away the exception.
*stengths
Personally, I wouldn’t let Nicholson and Tisdale near the next transfer window but we’re stuck with them.
Their arrogance is only matched by their incompetence.
Sadly, turkeys don’t vote for Christmas.
I see the Long Wait Is Over beat me to it!
Awfy good of us to encourage (assist) Roma to be a ‘flood forward’ side in last night’s 1st half, making a mockery of my description of them yesterday. Their mids & forwards must have been in dreamland with the massive maw we left them straight up the middle of the pitch. Def their easiest game this season.
Regardless of who said it, we definitely do need more quality. Esp up front & wings, pitifully lacking.
Can’t believe Munich was this year.
Board sympathisers during the transfer window were blaming it on Brendan and Tisdale, as they said he was Brendan’s choice and it wasn’t the board’s fault as Brendan had his man in place. If that was the case, why is Tisdale still there and why did he have an input in selecting the new manager? Either he was Brendan’s man or the board. He can’t be both.
Wonderful watching the squirm on here.
Celtic Mac
As I recall, my very word yesterday afternoon were along the lines of: I’m looking for nothing more from tonight than some encouraging signs.
At halftime last night I posted:
“I was hoping to see encouraging signs tonight, not a win or a draw particularly, just a good performance that gives some encouragement for what’s ahead.
Instead what I’m seeing is that most of the players aren’t capable of playing the game the manager asks of them.”
There was nothing from me about free passes although I’m sure I have said words to the effect that WN could lose against Roma but losing to St Mirren on Sunday would be unconscionable.
That remains the case. Thee are no free passes after all.
The hearse chasers on here must have missed that Neil Lennon’s father has passed on to greater glory.
BTW, what a tribute to Dixie from Engels to miss that penalty against Italian opposition.😉
56,188
last nights attendance, our highest in europe this season.
there will be circa 40,000 celtic supporters at hampden on sunday.
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I was pondering this again as I do,
The podcasts are full of hosts and guests who like to preach, I dont attend, I dont spend a penny, season book holders talk about coming off the home ticket scheme, and not taking tickets for the ballots.
On ACSOM last night, fella said he was a seasonn card holder for 25 years, and stopped 5 seasons ago, and his 2 bhoys dont go either, and Celtic never came near him to ask why he stopped spending 2 grand a year.
He then mentioned the demographic of who was on tv last night, the crowd majority is in the 45-55 age group, and maybe they re in danger of fan apathy.
Meanwhile attendnace say different.
Last season 1.6 million attended Celtic park.
Good afternoon all from the Clutha. A fine pub crawl with Leggy after a visit to the Brazen. Scotia and Tolbooth next then onwards. We are elderly glass full Tims. Let the good times roll. 👍
Hrvatski Jim 12.41
May Linda Tandy Campbell Rest in Peace 🙏
HH