Livingston 2-4 Celtic: Nancy has his side firing but he needs to make case for the defence

We still don’t quite know what to make of Nancyball, or Wilfriedball, or whatever you want to call it. But one thing is crystal clear, at least. It’s certainly going to be entertaining to watch.

This was Celtic in a nutshell under the Frenchman. Scintillating in attack, and an absolute disaster waiting to happen in defence.

Nancy — even throughout the four-game losing run which kicked off his reign in Glasgow — has been keen to stress the positives. He has been relatively happy with what he’s seen. Or so he says, anyway.

It’s true that there have been some good elements. In the loss against Hearts on Nancy’s Parkhead bow, his side played well in the opening period.

The first-half performance against Dundee United up at Tannadice last week was arguably as good as anything Celtic have produced all season. Again, no points to show for it.

Nancy did eventually record his first win last week at home to Aberdeen. The 3-1 scoreline flattered the 10-man Dons if truth be told, but they were always in with a chance of capitalising on a defensive howler right up to full-time.

The Swede was left in acres of space to power home his 10th goal of the season

This one turned out to be a far more comfortable afternoon for Nancy and his men. But it wasn’t perfect. Not by a long shot.

And until his players get to grips with what their new boss is asking them to do defensively, we can fully expect more of the same kind of frantic football which was offered up here.

The visitors shot themselves in the foot not once, but twice, in the first eight minutes, and were punished for it. Thankfully for them, there was more than enough quality in the final third to get another win in the bag.

Benjamin Nygren netted a superb double, with Yang Hyun-jun and Arne Engels also on the scoresheet to ensure Celtic moved to within three points of league leaders Hearts, whose title ambitions were dealt a blow with defeat in a cracking Edinburgh derby at lunchtime.

Just as they did in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final defeat against St Mirren a fortnight ago, Celtic fell behind almost immediately from kick-off. Kieran Tierney’s slack pass across the park was pounced on by the rampaging Cristian Montano on the opposite flank.

The full-back managed to hold off Yang’s attempt at a challenge with consummate ease, before breaking into the box and firing a rasping effort in off the near post beyond Viljami Sinisalo, who was making a rare start in place of the injured Kasper Schmeichel.

Yang draws Celtic level early doors after Montano had twice given Livi the lead

That gave the visitors a bit of a kick up the backside, and they duly responded within minutes. Engels’ outswinging corner found the head of Daizen Maeda, whose header fell perfectly for Nygren to finish unmarked at the back post.

From a Livingston perspective, it was a woeful goal to concede. Far too many players in the box standing around waiting for someone else to take charge.

Celtic then offered up another defensive shambles of their own at the other end. This time, Maeda was easily dispossessed 25 yards from his own goal, with the ball ending up at the feet of Scott Pittman.

His dink to the back stick was met full-on by Montano, whose rasping strike gave Sinisalo absolutely no chance. 

Montano’s job was made a good bit easier by the fact that Yang had drifted inside, blissfully unaware of the danger over his shoulder. The South Korean is never a wing-back in a month of Sundays.

He did redeem himself at the other end, mind you, poking home from close range following a stramash in the Livi area to draw Celtic level for the second time in 10 minutes.

The character of this squad has come under severe scrutiny, and rightly so. But they are proving to be a resilient bunch, which will only build confidence.

Yang could — and perhaps should — have doubled his tally for the afternoon on the 20-minute mark. The excellent Luke McCowan showed wonderful feet on the wing before picking out his team-mate at the back post.

The subsequent header went inches wide of the target. The 23-year-old then had a drilled shot well blocked shortly after.

Going forward, Celtic were playing some terrific stuff, and took the lead in stunning fashion on 32 minutes, with Nygren curling a delightful strike in off the far post following a lengthy period of possession.

Arne Engels puts daylight between Celtic and their hosts from the penalty spot 

The Swede is now on to 10 goals for the campaign. The Parkhead scouting department have come in for their fair share of grief late, but Nygren has been a shrewd acquisition. The manager revealed post-match that he previously tried to sign the midfielder when in charge of Columbus Crew. He’s clearly a fan.

Behind him, Engels ran the show. He might have cost a few bob, but there are signs he is finally coming on to a game in this new-look system. And it was the Belgian who gave the visitors some much-needed breathing room just before the interval, stepping up to send Jerome Prior the wrong way from the penalty spot.

Daniel Finlayson can perhaps count himself a tad unfortunate for giving it away in the first place. No one in green and white had even bothered to claim for it, but handball was the decision from referee Matthew MacDermid having been called over to the screen by VAR for a look.

This Celtic side just never look totally in control these days, however. Livi enjoyed decent spells of pressure either side of the break, with Auston Trusty having to make several last-ditch interventions to keep the scoreline intact.

The American was on hand to bail Anthony Ralston out on multiple occasions. Quite why he was never Brendan Rodgers’ cup of tea is a mystery to everyone.

Nancy is evidently still struggling to find the right balance, on this evidence. Too often, Livi were able to create panic in the Celtic rearguard. It was far too easy as well.

Second-half substitute Jeremy Bokila should have found the target from 10 yards after getting a strong foot on Macauley Tait’s ball into the box. It bobbled harmlessly wide.

Nancy directs traffic as his side close the gap to Hearts to just three points with a game in hand

They had a penalty shout of their own waved away too. The protests came from the home stand rather than on the pitch, to be fair.

The contest became something of a non-event in the closing stages as Livi ran out of steam. Their search for a first Premiership win since Matchday Two goes on. Martindale’s need to find someone capable of putting the ball in the net over the next few weeks is evident. That’s far easier said than done.

Celtic have a bit of positive momentum to build on now thanks to a second win in a week. Motherwell at Fir Park is a daunting prospect on Tuesday evening, and you would expect the Steelmen to cause more than a few problems against this backline who’ve now shipped 13 goals in six games.

Nancy will need to sort that pronto if he is to get more Celtic supporters onside. But the majority of them are slowly but surely starting to come around. Things don’t look quite as bleak as they did a fortnight ago.