Neil Lennon has admitted that the transfer window may be affecting Odsonne Edouard’s performances as he urged the striker to “settle down”.
Edouard was in poor form once again at McDiarmid Park this afternoon. The striker incredibly only bagged 20 touches on the ball as he was often crowded out, and he was also guilty of simply having bad control as he struggled to get into the game at all (WhoScored).
Disappointingly for the Celtic fans, the performance came after a goalscoring display in Sarajevo on Thursday night. And with Rangers coming up in two weeks’ time, it’s essential our top stars are firing on all cylinders.
But Lennon believes that the transfer window, due to close tomorrow night, has been playing on Edouard’s mind.
As quoted by the National, Lennon said: “I think he has about three or four more gears to come. That’s a question you need to ask him. Again, I was disappointed with his performance. He needs to settle down. Hopefully after tomorrow he will.
“I can’t speculate but I think it’s apparent it’s been affecting him, but I can’t think for him or put words into his mouth. He’s a brilliant player, but we are just not seeing the best of him at the moment.
“Hopefully he’ll calm down once the window shuts and come good for us.”
Lennon clearly irked by Edouard’s levels
It’s not like Lennon to come out with such speculative comments. To suggest that the window is potentially playing on his star-striker’s mind shows you exactly how frustrated the manager has become.
And he has good reason for that frustration too. Edouard simply hasn’t been at it, and is too often taking either too long to release the ball or simply failing to control it to his normal standards.
With Rangers next in two weeks’ time, it’s a colossal opportunity for the Frenchman to get himself back into the good books. He’s going to have fixtures against the likes of AC Milan and Lille coming up over the next month or two also. This isn’t the time to be showing poor form.
Perhaps it’s time for Lennon to seriously threaten the Frenchman with the drop. If he’s going nowhere before the window shuts, then perhaps a spell on the bench after the Rangers game (assuming he still doesn’t turn it on in that one) would be best for him. After all, we have Albian Ajeti, Leigh Griffiths, and Patryk Klimala all trying their hearts out to get minutes.
Something’s annoying the manager – it’s so blatantly obvious by his comments. It’s also a tad concerning that Lennon can’t put his finger on exactly why Eddy’s struggling. The fact he’s even suggesting that it could be the window isn’t a great sign.
Edouard needs to snap out of this. In fact, Celtic need Edouard to snap out of it if we’re to land the 10. The next few weeks are going to be crucial.
In other news, BBC pundit Michael Stewart has hailed Leigh Griffiths, and put forward an intriguing question on his future.
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