Celtic: Is Wilfried Nancy is danger after just 14 days?

Defeat means Celtic remain six points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts – although we still have a game in hand – but Nancy urged fans to “keep the faith”.

His side appeared to have responded positively to Sunday’s League Cup final defeat against St Mirren with a dominant first half performance adorned by a goal from Daizen Maeda.

But Celtic missed a succession of opportunities and were unable to quell a resurgent United after the break; Stunning strikes from Krisztian Keresztes and Zac Sapsford turned the game in favor of the struggling home side.

This ended eighth-placed United’s seven-match winless run and an 11-year, 24-game winless wait against Celtic.

“We lost the game in three minutes; we gave up two set pieces,” Nancy told BBC Scotland. “Maybe the second shot was offside before the corner kick.

“I think we did a good job. I think we performed well despite all the opportunities we had in the first half. If we had scored the two or three shots we had, it would have been a different score.”

Nancy said she was aware the ongoing turmoil was “difficult” for Celtic fans but was adamant the 48-year-old could see improvements.

“I can understand,” he said. “I’m a human being and I’m disappointed and the connection with the fans is important to me. But we had clear chances and we had to work on some things.”

Asked if she regretted changing a system that had proven successful for interim manager Martin O’Neill, who had won seven of his eight games in charge, Nancy added: “Martin plays a certain way and I want to see something that can win games in the future.

“It’s not like that at the moment, but I can see that we’re improving. We lost four games in a row, but today we came very close to winning.

“This is the direction we need to move in and we have to be stronger to avoid conceding these types of goals.”