Nancy had to drop a 4/10 flop and lost the trophy to Celtic

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy became the first manager in the club’s history to lose his first three games in the dugout after Sunday’s disastrous defeat at Hampden Park.

The French manager watched his team lose 3-1 to St Mirren in the League Cup final, days after losing 2-1 to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership last weekend and 3-0 to Roma in the Europa League.

It has been a nightmare start to life at Parkhead for the new manager, but he must make a big decision to turn the tide and convince supporters of his suitability for the Hoops going forward.

Key changes Nancy needs to make at Celtic

The elephant in the room is the new system being implemented. The basic 3-4-2-1 formation was quickly introduced by the new manager, but it’s clearly not working given the results.

Celtic played a 4-3-3 under Ange Postecoglou and Brendan Rodgers, and a 4-2-3-1 under Martin O’Neill. The team is therefore well-suited and built for a system with three midfielders and a traditional back four.

Nancy needs to move to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, at least until changes can be made to the squad, allowing the players to go back to what they know to turn around results in the short term.

As part of that change, Liam Scales should be moved down the flank to help balance right-foot and left-foot at the back, and another centre-back should be brought in to partner Auston Trusty (either Jermai Simpson-Pucey or Dane Murray).

The Irishman scored an own goal against Roma on Thursday night, and on Sunday he was caught on the flight of the ball in Jonah Ayunga’s first goal, which should have taken him out of defence.

In addition to dropping Scales and changing their formation, Nancy should also mercilessly drop Kasper Schmeichel, who cost Celtic the trophy against St Mirren.

Why did Kasper Schmeichel have to leave?

The Denmark international has been number one since joining Parkhead in the summer of 2024, but his days as first-choice player could be coming to an end following the disastrous defeat at Hampden.

They were even worse than Scales in a game they lost 3-1. While there was much to be expected of as he was involved in all three goals conceded, the centre-back was only partially responsible for one of the goals conceded.

But the goal, which forced Scales into a corner, was also arguably Schmeichel’s worst moment of the game. He was caught in no-man’s land off his line, unable to get close to the ball or make a good enough attempt to save the shot.

In addition to the mistake in the clip above, the Danish goalkeeper seemed to be very slow in getting to the first goal, appeared to hit the back of the goal in slow motion, and then got his hand on the third goal without keeping the ball in the back of the goal.

Schmeichel, who was given a player rating of 4/10 by GlasgowWorld, won the trophy for the Hoops with his woeful performance and responsibility for all three goals. At best he could not have been blamed for the third goal as it was a free shot inside the box, but if he hadn’t prevented the first two goals it would have theoretically been a different game at 1-1.

If Celtic’s goalkeeper had been a little sharper off his line to take the shot, Nancy could have ultimately won the club’s first trophy and avoided a complete nightmare.

As you can see from the table above, the former Leicester star has struggled to perform as a shot-stopper in the Premiership and Europa League this season, conceding around three more goals than expected based on xG.

That’s why Schmeichel’s disastrous performance in the cup final should be the final straw for the manager to justify leaving him out of the squad to give Villami Sinisalo a chance on Wednesday night.