Celtic manager Neil Lennon has hinted at potentially more frustration over Odsonne Edouard’s fitness ahead of Sunday’s clash against Motherwell.
Edouard was a surprise omission from the Celtic side that went down 2-1 to Ferencvaros last night. The Frenchman has been the club’s go-to man for the big occasion, but his absence coincided with our first second qualifying round defeat in the Champions League in 15 years.
Despite the Celtic hero’s injury, however, there would be no place in the side for the Parkhead club’s alternative strikers. Albian Ajeti and Patryk Klimala both started on the bench, and Celtic suffered for it.
And speaking after the match, Lennon was brief and to the point regarding Edouard. As reported by Clyde 1 journalist Alison Conroy, the manager has severe doubts over whether the player will be fit for the weekend.
Are we set to face Motherwell without a striker too?
Lennon stated last night that the reason he didn’t field a striker was that none of them were match-fit (Glasgow Times).
Therefore, if Edouard is a doubt for Saturday, surely that means we’re going to be playing without a striker against Motherwell.
In fact, if the manager does start a striker it’ll open up even more questions. For example, how has one of them suddenly become match-fit within the space of four days?
The Edouard situation is also a concern after Lennon’s comments about players who don’t want to be here (The Herald). Granted, there’s no confirmation that Odsonne is one of them, but it isn’t a great look that he’s suddenly injured for such big games.
With Lennon initially telling Alison Conroy that he “didn’t know” how Edouard was doing – that’s a concern. It almost comes across as though the manager doesn’t even want to think about him. In fairness, that could just be down to the rawness of last night in any case.
What we should be showing, however, is that as a football team we are more than just Edouard. There should be goals coming from all over the place with the talent we have in the final third. That’s what makes last night inexcusable, regardless of Edouard’s omission.
Sunday’s team selection is certainly going to be interesting. But even at this early stage, it looks as though French Eddy won’t be a part of it.
In other news, Lennon has stated that he’s “sick” of a growing Celtic Park trend.
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