'He is the manager, so what do we do?' - Celtic star gives honest verdict on Rangers defeat and Wilfried Nancy

Poor Luke McCowan was summoned to the chair by a member of the Celtic media team more than 90 minutes after the 3-1 Old Firm loss to Rangers. To be fair to the 28-year-old boyhood supporter, he gave a searing and honest interview into life at Parkhead right now.

Like his teammates, McCowan played well in the first half on Saturday and caused Rangers problems. He linked up with Kieran Tierney and Daizen Maeda on the left flank from an unfamiliar wing-back role. But he and Celtic fell away in the second period, speared for defensive fragility as Rangers struck three times.

Six defeats in eight games since Wilfried Nancy took over as manager a month ago. The two wins came against the Premiership’s bottom club Livingston and ten-man Aberdeen. They are six points behind leaders Hearts and have been reeled in by Rangers, who were nine behind when Nancy took over. Second is nothing at Celtic. Right now they look like a team battling to stay in the Champions League places.

McCowan gave his version as to why, like in previous matches, Celtic let a winning position slip at half time. They led through Yang Hyun-jun’s opener on 20 minutes but failed to build upon it, with Youssef Chermiti scoring twice by the hour mark and then Mikey Moore putting the game to bed on 71 minutes.

“Rangers changed their shape and we didn't react well enough to it,” McCowan said. “Coming out of the first half, we absolutely dominated, I felt. They still had chances, but I felt like we were at it. That second half just wasn't enough really.”

Asked why Celtic can’t put 90 minutes together, McCowan continued: “We might dominate the ball for the first 45 minutes through the shape that we play. In the second 45 minutes they might change the structure or they might do whatever.

“We just aren't reacting to it as well as we should be. It's just not good enough. I'm probably going to say that at least 20 times in these interviews, but it needs to be better. Rangers can't be coming here and winning 3-1. It's just not good enough. It shouldn't be and it can't be in the future.”

‘Every defeat is horrendous’

The future - does it include Nancy? There are serious concerns over his position as Celtic manager, given the quite terrible start. “It's a results-based business and we need to be better as players,” admitted McCowan. “We need to get ourselves together and make it better on the pitch.

“I think every defeat is horrendous. As I said, we can just come here and win 3-1. It's never been the case before and it shouldn't be. We just weren't good enough in the second half to show what level we can be at.

“As I said, the first half shows that the players are running about for this club. They're doing everything they can, creating chances and should be more up, showing that the club is alive basically. In the second half, it just didn't seem to click like that.”

McCowan was asked how difficult it is for the players to hear chants against Nancy and the board. The ex-Dundee man was quick to point out that unrest has been rife throughout the campaign.

"Of course it was hard,” he said. “It's been hard the whole season. It's been the message [from the fans] the whole season, and I'm not going to sit here and tell them what to think, because that's their place and that's what they pay their money for, they've got their opinions and whatever.

“It's hard, I'm not going to lie. You play under that pressure, but that's what playing for this club is. It's always playing under pressure, and you need to rise to it, because if you don't, what's happening now is going to happen. You can get all the plaudits while the fans are outside after you win a derby or you win a cup, but if you don't win it, you're getting ready for the backlash that you get.”

Is there backing from the squad for Nancy and belief in him? McCowan’s response was fascinating. “There has to be, he's the manager,” he said. “I don't know what else to say on it, but he is the manager, so what do we do? We just need to be together, collectively get better, and get messages all together, and know what we did wrong in the second half and go from there.

“If you asked me when Martin [O’Neill] was here, did we believe in the manager, I would have said, ‘aye, we have to because he's the manager’. It's the only thing I can say. I understand what you're saying about believing and all that, but football's football. He's the manager, we need to do what he's implementing in the game. In the first half, we did. Second half, they changed it, we didn't. That's just as simple as that. As I said as well, football's moments.”

‘You’re never getting time at Celtic’

Change is always difficult, even more so midway through a season. Nancy is trying to reinvent the Celtic wheel during a congested and important part of the campaign. “It is hard,” said McCowan. “You're mid-season, and you're asking a manager to come in and implement his style, which is fine, that happens, and us as players just need to get the message going across quicker.

“I've seen for years now by watching Celtic, especially if you come in mid-season, you're never getting time. It's about results and winning, and that's just the kind of be-all and end-all of it. Even if you start the season, you're not winning, you're always going to feel that pressure. Us as players feel the pressure as well, regardless of who the manager would ever be. We just know that we need to stick together and keep grinding away.”

What McCowan and Celtic are going through right now is in stark contrast to last season, where Brendan Rodgers’ all-conquering team were a whisker away from landing a domestic treble and went toe-to-toe with Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

“The quality we had last year ... the two chances Daizen [Maeda] gets today in the box, he puts them away last year. Everything he touched last year was a goal. Even other guys coming in, the chances we've had in other matches, say, in the few weeks before, you go and score four against Livingston, you maybe should have scored three or four a day in the first half. Those moments, and the moments we just didn't come out on top, and they did.”

‘When’s it ever been this bad?’

McCowan laid out his own personal suffering and assured the supporters that everyone within the dressing room is feeling the pain.

“It's hard to tell the fans that,” he said. “They're watching it week in, week out. Let's call it a spade a spade - when's it ever been this bad? It's never. You're asking fans to react to something for the first time they're seeing it, and us as players, for the first time, we're feeling it. It's not nice. I'll tell you that as a player's perspective. It doesn't leave you. It haunts you every minute of every day when you're not winning.

“Getting home, not speaking to anybody, sitting on the couch, not moving, just doing that black screen instead of having the darts or having the football highlights on. It's nothing. But, as I said, that is what comes with playing with Celtic. You need to take that pressure on. You need to get there. You need to show personality. And at times, within games, we've not done that good enough.

“Within the structure, we've not done it well enough. But that's just the kind of rubbish message. We need to stick together and keep going.”

Next chance to ease the pain - or exacerbate it - is on Saturday, at home to Dundee United - a team Nancy has already lost to.