Wilfried Nancy has endured the worst possible start to life as Celtic manager. He lost his debut at the hands of an out-of-form Hearts side to allow them to regain their lead at the top of the table. That was followed by a toothless display against AS Roma in a 3-0 defeat. Also, not only has the Frenchman lost twice but both times at home.
Now, he will be expected to go away from Parkhead and get a result. Celtic will travel to Hampden Park, pretty much their second home, to take on St Mirren in the Scottish League Cup final.
Normally, Celtic fans would be pretty confident about a game like this. That cannot be said after how poor they have been over the past two games though as all the good work under Martin O'Neill seems to have been undone already as Nancy tries to implement his ideas on the team, perhaps far too quickly.
And leading up to the final, Nancy has made a claim that might worry the fans. As reported by 67 Hail Hail, the new Celtic manager said:
"I wanted to do more rotation, to be honest with you.
“But again, I am in between regarding that. A few players didn’t play a lot, also, in the last six games. So I need to balance that a little bit."
Wilfried Nancy makes worrying claim before Celtic vs St Mirren final
To many, that will sound like nothing but an excuse. Of course, football is all about perspective. If Nancy had said the same thing after winning his first two games, the pressure would be on the board to provide him with better depth in the winter.
There is no denying though that Celtic do lack quality depth at this point in time. This is not a team that has a lot of options all across the pitch. And they have been further reduced by a long list of injury problems.
So, let's see how things work out from here for Nancy. He is under pressure to win this final. If it does not, it might already be the beginning of the end for him at Celtic, even if that sounds dramatic after just three games.