'His ideas are good' - Celtic star reacts to Wilfried Nancy changes as blame taken for Hearts defeat
Scotland international enjoyed switch to different but familiar role
The contrast could not have been more stark. The same trusty left foot, a little bit of bend though not quite as much as three weeks ago. And not the bedlam of then. Far from it.
It was almost quiet enough to hear the ball hitting the sodden net on Sunday as Kieran Tierney swept in a goal that had little significance other than to make it 5-2 on aggregate to Hearts in the on-going series of games v Celtic this season.
There was enough time left for the visitors to re-start although little opportunity for the hosts to build anything of consequence before Don Robertson’s full-time whistle condemned Celtic to a potentially damaging home defeat in Wilfried Nancy’s first match in charge.
The World Cup must have seemed a long way away for Tierney. His goal against Denmark triggered so much joy and paved the way to what we now know are games against Haiti, Morocco and Brazil. His strike against Hearts, scored in the pouring rain in what was by then a half-full stadium, did not pack quite the same emotional punch. Tierney lined up at left centre-back, where he has sometimes been deployed by Steve Clarke for Scotland in an effort – often perceived as misguided – to accommodate both Tierney and skipper Andy Robertson.
It was a manager’s preference rather than expediency that saw him deployed in this position on Sunday. Nancy is a long-time exponent of 3-4-3, hence Tierney being tucked in on the left of a back three with Sebastian Tounetki ahead of him at left wing-back.
Perhaps surprisingly, Tierney says he enjoys this role. As he reaches a different stage of his career, it might be more suited to someone not capable of making quite so many lung-busting runs up the left flank. “I like it a lot, because I like building up in the three, and I've played centre-back before as well, the left centre-back role with Celtic, Arsenal and Scotland," he said. "It's a position I'm used to."
Can Nancy’s 3-4-3 system work for Celtic?
It's also a valid and often successful form of football expression although there’s an ongoing argument in England, revisited due to Ruben Amorim’s continued struggles at Manchester United, about whether it can work in the Premier League. It is predominantly viewed as a system that stifles opponents while facilitating a counter-attacking strategy. Although that’s not how it is perceived abroad.
It’s certainly not the way Nancy sees it, as was proved by his Columbus Crew side. They were considered to be one of the most potent sides in Major League Soccer so it was especially surprising to see Celtic, after an initial flurry, create so few clear-cut scoring opportunities against Hearts.
“His ideas are good about creating overloads, finding the free man,” stressed Tierney. “In football, a lot of the things are similar. People get maybe too caught up on formations but a lot of things are similar.
“I think we dealt well with it in the first half. I think we got good chances out of it, we were passing the ball well. But it's easy to say that. You need to win these games and we never won, so it's not good enough.”
Tierney takes the blame along with his teammates. He was captured in a photograph that quickly went viral studying - and looking possibly a bit quizzical – a tactics board that Nancy was holding in front of him on the touchline. Derek McInnes was caught looking over the Celtic manager’s shoulder in an image that helped support the impression that the Hearts manager was always a step ahead of the opposition, whose line-up he later revealed he had predicted due to some informed guesswork.
It put Nancy, who was only unveiled on Friday, at a further disadvantage. Tierney stressed that the manager did what he could to prepare them in the limited time he had. The misjudged final balls, the sclaffed opportunities in the opening minutes, this was the players’ doing.
“Maybe sometimes we make the wrong decisions, that's not on him,” he said. “When we get into the final third, that's when we need to show our quality. I don't think we've done that enough, just in the very last moment.”
Massive week ahead for Celtic
Tierney finished well to score his third goal in seven appearances for club and country. Although scored in injury time like his more memorable recent strike for Scotland, these were somewhat less dramatic circumstances.
Celtic now have a home game against AS Roma in the Europa League, the first time the Italian side have ever visited Celtic Park (though their second time in Glasgow in a matter of weeks). And then there’s a League Cup final on Sunday against St Mirren.
“It's a massive week for a new manager to come in, but that's Celtic,” observed Tierney. “If he came in the week before, it was another massive week. There's always big games and games you need to win, a lot of pressure.”
If he plays these next two matches - and the likelihood is he will after Uruguay internationalist Marcelo Saracchi’s hamstring injury - then Tierney will have already equalled the number of appearances he made all last season for club and country. Although several have been from the bench, and Sunday was only the sixth time he had started and finished a match, if flies in the face of those who felt re-signing him was a risk. Nevertheless, there are those who are questioning his form as well as fitness.
“People will talk” he shrugged. “There’s nothing you can do.” He is tired of constantly being asked about his physical well-being.
“I felt good out there,” he said. “It's always going to take a bit of time. But there's been weeks this season where I've played three 90s in one week. People will always ask me these kinds of questions. It's all good.”
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