Celtic

Celtic: Chris Sutton criticises Odsonne Edouard

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Image for Celtic: Chris Sutton criticises Odsonne Edouard

Celtic legend Chris Sutton has recently criticised Odsonne Edouard for his performances in the current campaign.

This came after Sutton appeared as a guest on the Record Celtic podcast and the panel talked about multiple issues involving the Hoops. One player that they talked about was Edouard.

Sutton believes that if he were to draw up a Team of the Year in Scotland this season, most of them will be Gers players and Edouard might not make the list because he’s had an underwhelming campaign.

Has Edouard been poor this season?

Yes

Yes

No

No

Edouard has found the back of the net 16 times in the Premiership and he has scored twice as many goals as second-highest Hoops scorer Mohamed Elyounoussi. In all competitions, the Frenchman has scored a total of 20 times, picking up a couple of goals in the Europa League group stages.

Sutton made it clear that while he is a massive fan of Edouard, the former Paris Saint-Germain youngster hasn’t turned up for Celtic even though he’s improved as a player.

He said: “If you were to pick the strongest XI in Scotland, you’d probably pick most of the Rangers players. And you know, I’m struggling to think of a Celtic player  – even Edouard, who I’m a massive fan of, but he hasn’t turned up this season for Celtic.

“I know people can look at his goals tally. He’s improved, I think, but he’s one of the many, many players who have been sub-standard, and that is Celtic’s issue.”

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Celtic fans, can you get 8/8 on this quiz on forgotten players? First up: who is this?

TIF Thoughts on Edouard’s season…

Edouard’s goals per 90 minutes stands at 0.70, which is level with his tally from the 2018/19 campaign. While this shows that his goalscoring contribution hasn’t exactly been poor, but his non-penalty goals per 90 minutes is only 0.48. His non-penalty goals plus assists tally is 0.66 too (as per FBRef). He is currently valued at £13.5m.

That is his lowest-ever tally at Celtic, which shows that his overall contribution has indeed dropped and he’s relied more on penalties to get his goals. Also, he was hardly consistent early in the season and only began to score regularly after his return from quarantine. So Sutton is right to point out Edouard’s underperformance.

In other news: ‘I wish I had stayed’ – Former Parkhead star drops big Celtic admission

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European Football Writer. Contributed for FootballItalia, Manchester United, Manchester Evening News, Calciomercato, GFFN and more.