Wilfried Nancy delves into Celtic striker issue, how he is treating Johnny Kenny and Cucho Hernandez question

Manager Wilfried Nancy wants his goals spread across his team but has admitted that a new No 9 is high up on his shopping list. And who can blame him after his first few weeks in charge of Celtic.

The Premiership champions have created chances by the dozen but have been too profligate. It cost them in league matches against Hearts and Dundee United, as well as the Premier Sports Cup final against St Mirren. Thankfully for Nancy, his team breached Aberdeen’s rearguard on three occasions last Sunday to get his tenure up and running.

None of those goals were netted by his out-and-out striker. Poor Johnny Kenny has been the fall guy in the past two matches, spurning a clutch of very presentable chances. Nancy has little else to turn to right now, with Kelechi Iheanacho and Callum Osmand injured. Shin Yamada appears no better than Kenny. Celtic are suffering from not replacing Kyogo Furuhashi or Adam Idah properly.

Nancy’s most successful Columbus Crew team had a monstrous goalscorer in Cucho Hernandez. Oh for a player like the Colombian right now at Celtic. The manager is assessing his options but he will want a new striker in pronto.

For now, he must work with what he has.

"I think if you ask the question to all coaches, they would say that the striker is important,” said Nancy. “But at the same time, what I like with my teams, we can score from any position. And I've seen that since I'm here. You mention Cucho Hernandez, he did score many goals, but also we scored many goals from other players. And for me, this is important.”

Celtic striker problem is not easy to solve

In the meantime, he will try and coax more out of Kenny and his fellow forward players. The 22-year-old Irishman is expected to lead the line against Livingston on Saturday. The positive is that he is getting into the right positions.

“I know it is not easy to score goals,” continued Nancy. “That's why I am happy with the chances that we created, but we have to score more goals. After that it could be confidence, could be tactics, could be technique, could be emotion. It's all these kind of things that we have analyse to help the players to score goals.”

Nancy was asked how a coach addresses such problems. “Yes, this is not easy,” he continued. “This is a good question because we think that this is easy – to score goals. But there is emotion. Emotion is one of the most difficult things to control.

“When a player misses a goal and they think about it after that context. When we train, everybody is good. It's a way of talking. But now we have to add this kind of situation. I think that this is repetition but I like to call it like this.

“This is repetition without repetition. Because they know how to shoot. They know how to kick the ball. They know how to control. This is more to create an environment, regarding the way we're going to train, to help the player to perform and to repeat this kind of action. But after that, this is more the mental aspect.

“There are many things that are difficult to coach. This is more about giving confidence and also support and sometimes challenges to the player because this is so complex.”

Then there is also the tender loving care needed for a misfiring striker. As well as laying down the facts, Nancy has been keen to put an arm around Kenny’s shoulder.

“This is my job also, to be honest with the player,” admitted Nancy. “Sometimes I have to hug them. Sometimes I have to tell them that this is not good enough. This is the way I am as a coach. Now I have to find the balance and the good moments to play with this situation.

“When there is a player who misses a goal or who misses a pass or who doesn't have a good game, the first guy who is really sad is him. So now I have to find a solution to help him. After that, we'll see.”

Nancy reported no new fitness concerns for the trip to Livingston but will not have any injured players back. The mood, he said, at Lennoxtown is good after recording a first win in five attempts.

"Yes - because I am like this,” Nancy said when it was put to him that the only way is up. “Imagine a leader who is not positive? It could be difficult for the players! But again, I am honest with them.

More being drip-fed into Celtic squad

“When it is good, I tell them, when we have things to work on, I tell them also. Good improvement but this is only the beginning, we have many things we can adjust and that's why I am really happy with the performances that I had because I can push them a little bit more regarding certain things.

“[Against Aberdeen] we were better in terms of execution. The previous game, we could have scored so many goals too. Against Dundee United, we missed three or four tap-ins, so it could have been 3-0 at half time - but it was not the case.

“I also liked the competitive spirit that we had. Yes, we conceded one goal, but we were better in terms of set-pieces. Not in terms of the first contact, because it's been good for the moment, but for the second contact and second ball and third waves. The only difference is that we scored goals.

“Like I said, we had really good performances during a few halves, but we didn't score. And now we did score, so it's not the same story.”