CELTIC fell to a fifth defeat in seven games under Wilfried Nancy's stewardship following a deserved 2-0 Premiership loss at Motherwell on Tuesday night.
The Frenchman once again tried to pick positives from the bones of another chastening loss but the reality is the champions were well beaten and their title hopes are quickly spiralling.
Nor does it get any easier, with a resurgent Rangers travelling to Celtic Park on Saturday, with a win for the visitors moving them level on points with Celtic.
In fact, a Rangers win by five goals or more would see them leapfrog Celtic into second — with the way the Hoops are playing, you wouldn't bet against that outcome.
The Hoops did come into last night's game on the back of two consecutive wins but if they offered a sliver of hope that Nancy might be turning things around, Motherwell extinguished that idea in ruthless fashion.
Well-beaten
It took just 14 minutes for Ibrahim Said to nod home Stephen O'Donnell's cross, despite the forward being flanked by two Celtic defenders.
Elijah Just, Celtic's tormentor in chief, then curled one just around the far post before stinging Kasper Schmeichel's hands early in the second half after Celtic gave the ball away cheaply in midfield.
Celtic finally mustered a tame shot on target after 51 minutes, Calum Ward parrying Shin Yamada's low effort, however, the visitors soon deservedly found themselves 2-0 down after Schmeichel failed to find Engels with a routine clearance to the edge of the box.
Just pounced on the stray ball and while his effort was blocked by Callum McGregor, Elliot Watt drilled home the loose ball to double Motherwell's advantage.
The hosts continued to dominate with Celtic easily bustled off the ball and often unable to string two passes together.
Benjamin Nygren did almost halve Motherwell's advantage with a well-struck curling effort 10 minutes from time that forced Ward into a diving save but even a 2-1 defeat would have flattered Celtic.
Dark clouds
After the game, Nancy continued to roll out excuses, once again opining that he 'saw good stuff' from his players, which appears to be his go-to line at the minute and doesn't reflect what most fans are seeing.
Similarly, his claim to the BBC that 'except for one offence transition, they [Motherwell] didn't have chances' doesn't tally with Well's total dominance in the game.
"Tough night, we conceded two goals, one on the throw-in and one on the mistake that we made, so it was tough for that," Nancy told Celtic TV afterwards.
He added: "Second half we pushed more, we were more aggressive, had the good moments and were more connected.
"That's why we had the possibility to be higher on the pitch and after that we had a few opportunities but we struggled to finish."
Nancy can keep trying to add a silver lining to repeated abject performances but there are dark clouds looming over Celtic Park under his watch.
In seven games, he has lost five, conceded 15 goals and failed to keep a clean sheet.
His two wins were a late victory at home over 10-man Aberdeen and a 4-2 win at bottom side Livingston, who scored twice in the opening eight minutes at Almondvale, a ground where Celtic's away support occupies three of the four stands.
Below-par performances
Despite Motherwell — and all of Celtic's other recent victors — deservedly winning, what is perhaps most perplexing is Nancy lamenting his failure to mastermind victories.
No disrespect to other Premiership teams, who have brutally punished Celtic recently, but Nancy talks as though he is trying to tactically outclass Europe's elite and appears to brush off each defeat because he reckons he'll get it right eventually.
Again, no disrespect, but far from being Europe's best, these are teams Celtic beat regularly.
Tuesday was Motherwell's first win over Celtic in almost 13 years.
Dundee United's victory over Celtic two weeks ago was their first for 11 years.
St Mirren's League Cup Final success was their first win over Celtic in three years.
Even this season, in spite of Brendan Rodgers' somewhat stuttering start and a summer of poor recruitment, Celtic only lost two league games out of 14 before Nancy arrived, duly overseeing three league defeats in five.
Sure, every match-week can produce an upset, even for the best sides, but defeats and below-par performances seem to be becoming the rule and not the exception for Celtic.
Choppy waters
Nancy obviously would like time to implement his preferred 3-4-3 system but a good coach and a supportive board should know that if it isn't broke, don't fix it.
Celtic's were moments from taking Bayern Munich to extra-time in the Champions League last-16 play-off last season but instead of building on that progress, key player Nicholas Kuhn was sold.
Greg Taylor, Adam Idah and Gustaf Lagerbielke also departed while Celtic lost top prospect Daniel Cummings, with the incoming players largely leaving a lot to be desired.
Even after interim boss Martin O'Neill appeared to steady Rodgers' listing ship with seven wins from eight, Nancy was brought in and rather than stick with a successful formula the players were familiar with, he decided to chart a new course.
Now, instead of backing a proven successful squad and manager in Rodgers (who Irish majority shareholder Dermot Desmond clearly had no love for given his statement after Rodgers' departure) or sticking with a successful interim boss who knows the club inside out, the board must decide whether to fund a squad overhaul to suit their chosen man's system.
That will presumably cost more than it would have done to maintain and complement Rodgers' double-winning system and team from last season.
Nancy's insistence that 'the message is getting across' after each defeat suggests he believes he has time to implement his new system.
Unfortunately for him, at a club where fans expect the team to win — and at the very least, compete in — every domestic game, time is not on his side.
The transfer window opens tomorrow, although it's unlikely Celtic will do any major business before Saturday's derby.
How Nancy's team performs against Danny Rohl's men — who, for all their struggles in the early part of the season, have only lost twice in the league this term — will surely go a long way to deciding whether the board back their man and his ideas with transfer funds.
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