Ange Postecoglou has explained his surprising decision to drop Celtic striker Odsonne Edouard against Jablonec on Thursday evening.
The Hoops boss went with a front three of James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Liel Abada respectively. It was Japanese international Furuhashi that took Edouard’s spot at centre-forward, with many fans pleased to see the Frenchman dropped.
The former PSG starlet has had a rough start to the campaign. In his three competitive appearances so far, he’s yet to find the net. With Edouard also into the final year of his contract, some will connect dots and believe that he simply isn’t putting in the effort.
However, Postecoglou has stated that he was simply dropped due to an injury concern. He also stated he would continue selecting him so long as he remained at the club.
As quoted by the Daily Record, Postecoglou said: “I prepare the squad for the games and he’s played in most of them. He had a little knock after Midtjylland and didn’t train every day – so I put him on the bench in midweek.
“But while he’s here, if he’s playing well and training well, I will select him. If something changes over the course of the next few weeks then we are ready for it. Has there been a bid? That’s something I’m not really involved in.
“I leave outgoing players to other people. I am just working hard to bring some in. Odsonne is available for Dundee. Will I need to speak to him? No. I’ve made a decision that what’s more important to me is the players I know are going to stay. If players want to go, I’m not going to try to convince them to stay.”
Ange Postecoglou moves to defend Odsonne Edouard
Postecoglou may have stated that he left Edouard out due to injury, but fans will raise eyebrows. It’s not uncommon for managers to use that excuse if they don’t want to explain the real reason for their player being dropped.
After all, Edouard did come on for the final 25 minutes on Thursday night. He still made a substantial appearance despite whatever knock he was supposed to have been carrying.
Of course, we can’t assume anything. The manager has to be taken at face value. He’s ready to continue sticking by Edouard, but interestingly it’s only if “he’s playing well and training well”. Something for the Frenchman to keep in mind.
After all, his spot in the team now isn’t as secure as it once was. Postecoglou clearly likes his one-striker set-up. And considering Furuhashi impressed on Thursday night, Edouard will need to up his game.
There remains plenty of speculation over a potential move to Southampton or Brighton [Scottish Sun]. But that’s something that will take care of itself. We would hope Celtic have irons in the fire in case that potential deal came off.
But all Edouard should be focusing on is getting back into the Celtic side and showing why there’s so much interest in him in the first place. To say he’s been doing that since the competitive action started last month would simply be inaccurate.
In other news, James McCarthy unlikely to make his Celtic debut against Dundee
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