Sutton hits nail on head – “They have second-rate strikers, and that’s the issue”

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has spoken out in defence of Wilfried Nancy, admitting he feels considerable empathy for the manager as pressure continues to mount…

Reacting after Celtic’s 2-1 defeat away to Dundee United at Tannadice on Wednesday night, Sutton suggested Nancy has inherited a difficult situation, claiming the current squad lacks the quality required to quickly turn results around.

Supporter anger was evident, where chants and audible criticism underlined the increasing unrest aimed at the 48-year-old Frenchman.

“He needs to win games and perform well,” Sutton said via Sky Sports. “I mean, Wilfried Nancy said it was a good performance. It was in the first half, but there are two halves to the game, Wilfried. And Celtic weren’t good enough in the second half.”

“I’ve got massive sympathy for him. Unfortunately, Celtic aren’t in pre-season, and if Wilfred Nancy had a whole pre-season, you could maybe see things panning out and the club moving in the right direction. But he hasn’t got that. So it’s going to be incredibly difficult for him to really get this side going.”

Sutton added: “I mean, what’s happened since Martin O’Neill has left? The confidence levels of certain players have dropped. Reo Hatate looked like he was coming on to a game under Martin O’Neill. So did Arne Engels.

“But the bottom line was Celtic have some bang average players. They have second-rate strikers, and that’s the issue. They’ve missed unbelievable chances tonight.”

The former Celtic striker continued: “I have sympathy for him because I think he has qualities as a coach, and you can see some of the rotations and his ideas. But I agree with what you guys said about it being dangerous playing one centre half. I mean, if you’re playing against Celtic, you think corners, throw-ins, get balls into the box, bully Celtic. You can do that.”

“But people can’t tell me that Johnny Kenny is good enough to lead the line for Celtic. He is not. Shin Yamada isn’t good enough to lead the line for Celtic. He is not. That’s an issue. Even Yang Hyun-jun has become a key component. I mean, Celtic were trying to flog Yang for three million pounds in the summer! That’s where the major fault lies.”

Yes Chris it does and the people responsible for that are the ones taking huge salaries out of Celtic as our directors.  None of them are fit for purpose starting with the CEO Michael Nicholson.

Wilfried Nancy will get the chance to speak for himself today at his mainstream media conference at Lennoxtown ahead of Sunday’s crucial match against Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership at Celtic Park. We’ll report on that later today but like the rest of the Celtic fan media we won’t be there as we have been banned by the club.

Conor Spence

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