To feel the heat is a given for any Old Firm manager, and Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy is experiencing a cauldron of emotions as derby day arrives. Just over four weeks since Nancy was announced as the permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers, he has lost five of his seven matches in charge. Consequently, Nancy is under enormous pressure before Saturday's match against Rangers, not least from his own club's supporters.

After defeats by Hearts and Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership, Roma in the Europa League and St Mirren in the Premier Sports Cup final, back-to-back league wins against Aberdeen and Livingston appeared to have steadied the ship. However, Celtic were then outplayed and outfought on Tuesday as Motherwell swept to a fully deserved 2-0 win, and anger from Fir Park's away end was apparent throughout.

Celtic are three points behind leaders Hearts, while Rangers would join Nancy's side on 38 points with a win at Parkhead. In a remarkable media conference before his first big derby, Nancy launched into a passionate defence of himself and his team. He delivered an extraordinary response to talk about his methods, including one answer that lasted seven minutes, as the game itself played second fiddle to the Frenchman and his job security.

"I know your job is to attack me, or to ask a lot of questions, no problem with that," Nancy said. "My job is to be a coach, your job is to ask questions. If you want to judge me now, you can do it. I didn't have the results we wanted - it's a fact, I cannot deny that." He appealed for patience, but immediately accepted this is a job where the high stakes mean patience is in short supply.

"This is only the beginning. Usually, we have four or five weeks of pre-season. I didn't have that," Nancy said. "The reality is, before I came, I knew if I didn't win games, I was going to be in trouble. This is part of the job. I'm pleased to be here and I know where we are now." Victory on Saturday could make a world of difference for Nancy, and his side could well go on to be champions in May. Defeat, though, would ramp up the scrutiny to new levels.

When he walked into Celtic in early December, Nancy found a club whose fanbase was warring with the hierarchy. Amid a perceived lack of summer investment, Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League and stumbled out of the blocks domestically under Rodgers' leadership. Rodgers resigned in late October amid accusations from major shareholder Dermot Desmond of "divisive, misleading, and self-serving" behaviour. He was replaced in the interim by club legend Martin O'Neill, who won seven of his eight matches and restored some goodwill among supporters.

Nancy ripped up the 4-3-3 formation used by O'Neill in favour of his own 3-4-3 system and accepts his team have fallen below the level he would like from them. "Have a look at the way I am as a coach, as a manager, and what I want to bring and you will see we are not there yet," Nancy said. "If you do your job, you can see what I do. If you are patient - I know you cannot be patient in this job - you will see what I can do, my team and my players. This is my message for everyone - fans, you guys, all the people - this is the reality and we knew that before with the board when I came."

Nancy says he totally understands the criticism that has accompanied his underwhelming start, but says he has "suffered" because of his players not being "ready". "I suffer," he said. "Not the criticism, because that's part of my job. I suffer that I know that if [a player] gets in this position, we can outplay the opposition, but he is not ready to do it. I attack in different ways, but my players need time to understand what I want to do. You don't win, you get killed. You win, OK."

The Frenchman says he knows what he was taking on at Parkhead and stressed it is still early January and there is a long way to go in the season. Regarding the frustration among supporters, he said: "I understand that perfectly and people have the right to be not happy. In all my clubs, connection with the fans was spot-on. I came in the middle of the season - they were winning, now we lose. I need time and I understand Celtic is Celtic. I understand the culture, but I don't like to promise things. What I'm going to promise is I will do everything to be consistent. If I'm not mistaken, we are only second. The season is long."

"Because we lost a few games, it is like we are last. I understand the narrative, I'm not saying I accept it. I didn't say second was good. I just gave the context for where we are now. I'm not trying to buy time. The only moment to buy time is when we win games." Despite acknowledging results have not been good enough, Nancy disputes that his tactics are to blame, saying only one of the 15 goals conceded in his seven matches has been a failure of his system. "I think about changing something every time," he said. "I analyse what we can do, have a look at all the goals we conceded and if this is about the system. I did it and this is not the case. We concede a lot of goals on set-piece. The only moment when we had an issue with the system - and this is something normal - is the second goal against Roma."

"At this moment, in terms of results, this is not what we want. But at the same time I see a lot of things that I really like." During his 25-minute news conference, the former Columbus Crew head coach also took issue with the idea he plays with a back five and says it is more complex than that. "I want you to understand that I don't play with a back five," he said. "So this is useless to talk about this. I don't play with a back five. The way we defend most of the time this is a back four, or it could be a back three. When you play the back four, sometimes you can have a back five or back six, so for me this is useless to talk about that. I never said that I am a back-five guy. I never said that. I play with a back four. I play with a back three. I play with a back two. This is only the beginning. I want to see certain things and after that I will analyse."