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Celtic vs. Rangers in the Scottish Premiership

Glasgow’s Celtic Park Date: Saturday, January 3rd, 12:30 GMT

During a stirring media conference, Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy vehemently defended his tactics and emphasized that he will need to be given time to succeed.

Since taking over from interim boss Martin O’Neill at the beginning of December, the Frenchman has lost five of his first seven games.

The former Columbus Crew head coach, who has received criticism from Celtic supporters, was put under even more pressure after his team lost to Motherwell by 2-0 on Tuesday.

Nancy’s team hosts Rangers on Saturday, three points clear of Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts, and three points clear of them.

He said, “I need time, as you know.” Give me some time, and I’ll let you see what I do. Because I didn’t start yesterday, you can already see what I did before.

If I say, “Everything is happy, everything is good, I’m going to be a liar,” I’ll be lying. No, that’s not the case, but I already knew that.

“I’m calm during all the questions you ask me,” I explain. People who don’t like me have the right to say it because it won’t work in terms of results, so I’m disappointed.

Tomorrow will be a big game, they say. However, the context is that my team and I only have 13 training sessions. The pre-season is typically four weeks long.

“You guys killing me is completely normal,” he said. Because I know where I want to go, that’s fine. In a few weeks or months, judge me. You can judge me right away if you want to. I cannot dispute the fact that we didn’t get the results we wanted.

Nancy predicts that he will “die” to help Celtic reach their goals, and that his performance hasn’t been as good as his.

He explained that it’s completely normal for my players to occasionally feel lost and uncertain.

It’s a procedure, they say. Because some people believe I’m hiding behind “process,” I don’t like the word “process.”

Judge me, no problem, but consider the games since I’ve been here and determine whether we should have won or lost. Do it .

“I am a good guy,” I said. I’m not able to speak at the moment because the outcomes aren’t satisfactory. I take it and shut my mouth, but I’m sure of our destination. I’m not sure if it will work after that. I’m here for that because we’ll do everything.

Aston Villa manager Unai Emery says the club were “not convinced” two months ago to sign Harvey Elliott permanently.

The forward arrived from Liverpool in September on a season-long loan, with an obligation to buy for £35m based on him playing 10 Premier League games for the Midlands club.

BBC Sport understands that Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC, who are coached by former Villa manager Dean Smith, are interested in Elliott, but the 22-year-old is not keen on moving to America.

Elliott has only featured five times under Emery, with his last appearance coming as a late substitute against Feyenoord in the Europa League on 2 October.

“The problem we have with Harvey is that this year he is on loan, and in case he plays matches we must buy him”, said Emery.

“We decided two months ago that we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we would need to sign him.

“This is not something good for him and good for us, but this is football and sometimes we must take some decisions which are not good for everyone”.

Elliott, who starred for England Under-21s as they won the European Championship last summer, made just two Premier League starts when Liverpool won the title last season.

He has started just once in the league for Villa, and scored his only goal at Brentford in a Carabao Cup tie in September.

Given Liverpool’s injury problems, it is not impossible that Elliott ends the window back in Arne Slot’s squad, but the stance on Merseyside is that this is very much Aston Villa’s problem to solve.

There is no recall clause in the current deal and Liverpool are only expected to engage if an approach was initiated by Villa for Elliott to return to Anfield.

If that were the case, Villa would be expected to pay a fee to terminate the loan and potentially contribute to Elliott’s wages.

When Elliott made the loan move in the summer, Liverpool budgeted accordingly, with the understanding that the move would become permanent in the summer of 2026.

When asked if the club had thought about returning Elliott, Liverpool manager Slot responded, “No, he’s supposed to be going there for a season.”

Elliott hasn’t played for Villa since October, but Emery has made it abundantly clear that the Englishman has no future in Birmingham.