“We need to buy in, it’s non-negotiable,” Celtic star on Nancy’s tactical approach | OneFootball

Luke McCowan has admitted the transition to Wilfried Nancy’s tactical approach at Celtic has not been straightforward…

Luke McCowan and James Forrest arrive at Tynecastle. Hearts v Celtic, 26 October 2025. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Speaking to the mainstream media at Hampden on Friday,  McCowan reflected on the challenges of adapting to a new 3-4-2-1 shape introduced by the Frenchman. The Celtic midfielder was questioned directly on his experiences so far as the squad continues to adjust to the demands of Nancy’s system.

“It’s hard personally,” admitted the Hoops midfielder via Celtic’s official YouTube channel. “You want to play as many games as you can and obviously get a little taste of starting three, four back-to-back games, helping the team get to some victories. But I just need to get my head down, as hard as it is.

“You need to just keep working away and when your chance comes it comes and you’re ready for it. You need to put work in on the training ground. You need to study what style we want to play and what the manager wants and try and be at my best when I’m in the team.”

Despite the challenges that have come with the tactical shift, McCowan stressed that full commitment to the manager’s ideas is essential for the squad.

“We need to buy in,” he said. “It’s non-negotiable. We need to back everyone in this building, regardless of who’s been playing well, who’s not. Whatever it is, we’re a team.”

“We need to back each other through the good and the bad because everybody’s all high-fives and cuddles when we’re winning but this team doesn’t go through two or three results that go bad.”

Luke McCowan. Motherwell v Celtic, 2nd February 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou

McCowan continued: “This is where the true characters are shown so we need to just be together. I know I’ve said it so many times in this interview but stick together.”

“It’s just when you go through bad spells. Me personally, I’ve done it with Dundee at Ayr and trust me, they’re worse than bad times there. We just need to have that same attitude of we’ll move on to the next game. As I said before we even started, the games are coming fast in this period, and it’s a good thing that if you get one win, it can propel you into getting a few hopefully, and we just need to start with that on Sunday.”

Paulo Bernardo at Firhill. Partick Thistle v Celtic. Premier Sports League Cup. Sunday 21 September. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Hopefully the likes of Luke McCowan, Paulo Bernardo and Kelechi Iheanacho will come into the team tomorrow.  If Celtic go with the same team that started against both Hearts and Roma the same outcome is pretty much what we can expect. 

Conor Spence

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