Nancy has to unload Celtic failure who looks terrible in new role

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy suffered his second defeat since arriving at Parkhead with a 3-0 home defeat to Roma in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The Hoops manager lost 2-1 to Hearts in his first game in the dugout, but failed to elicit a reaction from his players in this encounter against the Italian giants.

Celtic were 3-0 down at half-time as Roma ran riot, but Arne Engels missed a chance to grab a 45th goal when he hit the post from the penalty spot.

The Belgian star took a sweet penalty into the bottom left corner, but his shot hit the post and the Hoops were 3-0 down at half-time.

Why Arne Engels is worth keeping his place in the team

Engels may be easy to criticize for his penalty misses, which is understandable given the 3-0 loss, but there were some positives to his performance that came with his struggles.

Meanwhile, the Belgian international lost six of his eight matches on the ground, according to Sofascore, indicating that he was a little too weak in the physical battle against the Roma midfielder.

But on the other hand, the former Augsburg star made a number of impressive runs from the overlap into the right channel and almost created several chances before assisting Kelechi Iheanacho’s goal, who slotted the ball into the box and was narrowly offside.

According to SofaScore, Engels had one “big chance” in the game that was supposed to be an assist for Kelesi, showing he has the creative ability to make things happen with the new system.

A player who has had less success in Nancy’s 3-4-2-1 system is Sebastian Tunekti, who should miss Sunday’s League Cup final against St Mirren.

Why Sebastian Tunekuti should be let go

The Tunisian international has mainly played as a left-winger for the Scottish giants since joining from Hammarby in the summer transfer window, but he will now take on a new role under the French manager.

After playing as a left winger in Brendan Rodgers’ 4-3-3 and Martin O’Neill’s 4-2-3-1, Tunekuti had to play as a left wing-back for Nancy, but that role doesn’t seem to suit him.

In this wing-back role, the 23-year-old has more defensive responsibilities. This is because he sometimes has to track back in possession to drop into the back five, so he sometimes doesn’t have much support in the wide areas and can find himself in situations alone against two or three defenders.

Tunekti, a natural winger, was caught up defensively. According to Sofascore, the Tunisian prodigy lost four out of five physical confrontations against Roma and failed to make a single tackle or intercept.

In addition to his defensive troubles, the wing-back did not have a shot on target and did not create any “big chances” for his team during the 90 minutes on the pitch against Italy, according to Sofascore.

As you can see from the table above, Tunekti did not score or assist in his first two games as a wing-back, and he lost the ball 29 times in those two games.

He also lost seven of his 12 matches against Hearts, losing the majority of duels in both games, indicating that he does not have the physicality or defensive awareness to be effective in the role, at least without further training and understanding of the position.

Tunecti has performed so poorly in his first two games in the position that he will have to be mercifully left out of the starting XI against St Mirren on Sunday. Considering it is a cup final and the Hoops need reliable options on the pitch.

Moving natural wing-back Kieran Tierney up front and playing another defender like Colby Donovan in a back three could be a smart move after Celtic conceded five goals in their first two games with the new system.