Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy got off to the worst possible start with a 2-1 defeat to Hearts at Parkhead in the Scottish Premiership in his first match in charge.
The Hoops head coach was thrown in at the deep end, after Martin O’Neill’s interim tenure, and failed to oversee a positive result in his debut in the dugout.
A late goal from Kieran Tierney in stoppage time was too little too late for the hosts, who created three ‘big chances’ in the match (Sofascore), as the Jam Tarts held out for all three points.
Nancy will have learned a lot about his squad in his 3-4-2-1 shape, which was immediately implemented, and one thing that he should have learned is that Daizen Maeda should not play as the striker.
Why Daizen Maeda should not play up front
The Japan international was selected to lead the line for the Scottish giants with Hyun-jun Yang and Sebastian Tounekti as the wing-backs, with Reo Hatate and Benjamin Nygren as the two attacking midfielders.
Maeda missed two ‘big chances’ early on in the game, per Sofascore, scuffing both efforts in presentable situations, and then struggled with the physicality of the match.
Per Sofascore, the Japanese attacker lost all five of his ground duels and three of his four duels in the air, which shows that it was too easy for the Hearts defenders to get the better of him more often than not.
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However, to his credit, it was his challenged header at the end of the game that created Kieran Tierney’s goal, so some good did come from his physical output.
His overall struggles physically, though, are why the new Celtic boss should use Kelechi Iheanacho or Johnny Kenny, natural number nines, in that position moving forward, with Maeda in one of the roles behind the striker to take some of the physical burden off him.
Maeda was not the only poor performer on the day for the Scottish giants, though, as Arne Engels is the first player who should be ruthlessly dropped from the starting XI by Nancy.
Why Nancy must drop Engels for Celtic
The new Celtic boss must drop the Belgium international from the starting line-up because he was even worse than Maeda in the defeat to Hearts on Sunday.
Like the Japanese striker in the first half, Engels was guilty of missing a huge opportunity in front of goal in the game, as he could only guide his close-range header straight at Alexander Schwolow.
The £11m signing from Augsburg was also incredibly sloppy with his use of the ball throughout the game. Per Sofascore, the central midfielder lost possession a staggering 23 times, whilst Maeda only gave the ball away seven times in total.
Engels was criticised for his “wayward” passes by Sky Sports pundit Chris Sutton during the live coverage of the first half, after a couple of sloppy balls forward that went straight back to the away side.
Minutes
90
90
Touches
86
31
Possession lost
23x
7x
Key passes
2
3
Assists
0
1
Shots
3
2
Big chances missed
1
2
Pass accuracy
76%
85%
As you can see in the table above, Engels had 55 more touches and gave the ball away 16 more times than Maeda across the 90 minutes, yet created fewer chances for the team than the Japan international.
These statistics illustrate just how sloppy the Belgian flop was in the middle of the park for the Scottish giants, and why he should be the first player who is ruthlessly dropped from the team by the manager.
Their respective performances tie into how Nancy could drop him because Maeda moving back into one of the attacking midfield positions would allow Reo Hatate to drop deeper into midfield, with Iheanacho or Kenny essentially replacing Engels in the line-up.
The former Bundesliga talent should not be completely written off under Nancy already, of course, but this period of matches is about the new manager learning about his squad, which means that he needs to look at other players and see who is best suited to his style of play.
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ByTom Cunningham Dec 6, 2025
Engels was not good enough against Hearts on Sunday, unfortunately, but he will get more chances to prove himself to the French tactician in the future.