Celtic boss Neil Lennon had an intriguing solution for Odsonne Edouard’s absence in the Hoops recent Europa League match against Rennes.
He made the perhaps unexpected decision of playing winger Lewis Morgan as Celtic’s lone striker in the game. The move was certainly an experiment, but it paid off. Morgan scored Celtic’s opening goal in the 3-1 victory.
Morgan looked relatively comfortable up-front. Now Lennon has suggested a reason why the player did so well as a striker. He confirmed that the team had worked on playing Morgan as a striker in training.
“We have looked at him”
“We have looked at him in that position in training a few times. Just in case anything did go wrong with Odsonne” Lennon said, as reported by the Daily Record.
“At times you think he’s an awful finisher, others he is, ‘Wow, amazing.’ With that talent he has to play some sort of role along the way somewhere.”
The fact that Lennon has admitted that he isn’t always a fan of Morgan’s finishing makes you think that his long-term future at Celtic won’t be as a striker.
However, on a one-off occasion, the player looks to be capable of playing in that position for the Hoops. He certainly didn’t let anyone down against Rennes. It would be much of a concern for Celtic if he had performed poorly on the night.
Will player feature in next league game?
It will be interesting to see if Morgan starts for the Hoops against Ross County on Sunday. Leigh Griffiths is fit, and has featured in Celtic’s last two games, therefore he has to be in the manager’s thoughts for the game.
However, perhaps Lennon and the Celtic staff feel that Morgan deserves to keep his place in the side after he did so well against Rennes.
It is certainly an interesting decision that the Hoops manager will have to make, should Odsonne Edouard fail to recover from injury in time for the game.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
