Mclnnes ready for a new-look Bhoys

WILFRIED

- BY RYAN McDONALD

Nancy caught pretty well all inside Celtic Park by surprise by ripping up Martin O'Neill's winning 4-3-3 formation. Almost everyone, but not Derek McInnes.The wily old fox of Scottish football had done his homework on Celtic's new boss, making his name across the pond with a 3-4-3 system at Columbus Crew when leading the Ohio club to MLS Cup glory.

But, after just 72 hours at Lennoxtown, few could have predicted hed immediately change the setup - especially in such a high-stakes showdown.

Credit to Hearts’ McInnes. Hours of homework paid off as the title-chasing boss masterminded a famous 2-1 win and punished the champions’ unfamiliar defensive three and two wing-backs.

He said: “Wei second-guessed Celtics team, to be honest. We understood that they were going to go with a back three, which is obviously a change and it’s the manager's preferred system.

“We have studied the last two or three days, watching a lot of Columbus Crew and what they want to do.

“What they expect from their sixes, what they expect from their 10s, what they expect from their wing-backs to play really high on that last line. So we felt well prepared for that and it meant we needed to fill the middle of the pitch with bodies.