Opportunity Knocks for Odsonne Édouard - a key man for Celtic

For many Celtic fans, the jury is still out on Odsonne Édouard but the doubters will learn to love him.

And that's because he is likely to be crucial to Celtic's hopes of winning a double treble in the remaining weeks of the season.

Odsonne hasn't had the smoothest of starts to his Celtic career and some seem

determined only to see the negatives in his play.

A French under-21 International, the comparisons with Moussa Dembele were as natural as they were unfair.

Moussa had a few in the support declaring that he would never make the grade (smug alert - not this blogger) before his exceptional talents shone through.

But he had had time in Brighton to acquaint himself with British football and an English-speaking culture, which Odsonne had not.

In truth, I think it's clear that Moussa is a more complete player than Odsonne but few forwards of Moussa's age have his range of attributes.

And, as Tommy Burns once said, a player's value should be judged by what he can do, rather than what he can't.

In Odsonne's case, what stands out for me is his direct running on the ball.

There are plenty of big, strong lads who look like they could run through a centre half but few could take the ball with them when they do so and Odsonne's touch and close control are good enough to suggest that he is capable of causing a Scottish Premiership pairing significant distress when he is fully up-to-speed.

He had two chances against Morton, which looked as if he should have done better on the first viewing, but actually required him to adjust his feet due to some very good Morton defending.

While he is not the most graceful of movers and his feet could be a little quicker, he nevertheless does have the ability and composure to retain control in tight spaces in the box and that's an excellent sign that he has the potential to deliver in pressure games.

(One way or another, most Celtic matches are.)

Speaking after the game Brendan Rodgers said: "Odsonne was the key difference in the game.

"He shows his quality, his hold-up play, his movement, his speed, then scores a very good goal."

Many Celtic fans may have forgotten how difficult it was to fill the role of "third striker" in a team normally starting with one forward.

With positions one and two being occupied by the young sensation, Moussa, and the talented braggadocio, Leigh Griffiths, it seemed a potentially unattractive proposition for an incoming player of sufficient talent.

Be content to accept that two other players have prior call on the starting position but have the quality and determination to make people recognise your claim to the place.

In that sense, Celtic were critically vulnerable when last season ended and Odsonne has done an admirable job in giving the team that other option and making opposition coaches have to account for a whole new headache if their Plan A was working.

But with Moussa only now coming back to his best form after hamstring problems (which the coaching and medical staff have been exemplary in managing - plenty would have rushed him back, to his long-term detriment), and Leigh's recurring hamstring injuries clearly frustrating Brendan, Odsonne is emerging as a crucial player for us.

And that importance looks likely to increase.

Such is the interest in Moussa that the summer will likely see intense efforts to prise him away from Celtic Park. And Brendan is very unlikely to hitch his and Celtic's fortunes to the durability of Leigh's calf muscles.

That scenario presents Celtic with a major recruitment issue - and a huge opportunity for Odsonne.

It is highly probable that we will have to sign at least one forward and probably two in the summer.

Various stories have indicated that the fee Celtic would have to pay Paris St Germain for Odsonne is €10m (around £8m).

Many Celtic fans have baulked at the idea of making the 20-year-old our record signing (even though our most expensive players were signed when Odsonne was at primary school).

Is he worth that money to Celtic?

Well, given market rates, the circumstances at the club and the fact that Brendan Rodgers has had

almost a season to work with him, probably yes, though he still has work to do.

But with Celtic's season, hopefully, lasting for another 11 weeks (if we reach the Scottish Cup Final), Odsonne has a huge opportunity, if he wants it.

That's less than three months to prove that he not only has a long-term place at Celtic but can start next season vying for the position of first-choice forward.

If Odsonne demonstrates his full potential and shows the hunger and professionalism required to be a top player for Celtic, then the fans may be clamouring for the club to break that transfer record.

Opportunity Knocks for Odsonne.
(And I mean that most sincerely, folks!) 
--

Celtic haven't quite wrapped up the Scottish Premiership title – but we've bought the paper

Celtic took a huge step towards retaining the Scottish Premiership title with a 2 – 0 win over Aberdeen in what promised to be a tricky match, following the team's exertions in St Petersburg on Thursday.

On a day in which the Pittodrie groundsman had apparently mistaken his lawnmower for a cultivator

, the football was never likely to be silky-smooth.

However, what mattered most was that Celtic's 10th consecutive win over the Dons establishes a nine-point lead at the top and effectively kills off whatever remained of the Dandie's challenge.

It's little wonder that the Dons boss, Derek McInnes was many Celtic fans' choice to be the fourth man for the Ibrox hotseat. Let's hope, as Aberdeen fans surely do, that The Rangers come knocking at Stewart Milne's door again in the summer.

BUY NOW: Aberdeen wisely
made this bottle in
crash-proof plastic

Earlier in the day this blog anticipated the real prospect of a Dons win, reckoning without Deek's remarkable ability to be thoroughly awful when faced with a side from Glasgow.

However, after an excellent win which saw glimpses of the Moussa Dembele we've been looking for all season and the (insert your own superlative here) Kieran Tierney showing exactly why he is wanted across Europe, we are now effectively two wins from being ready to call ourselves champions.

Whereas as loss could have allowed The Rangers the chance to leave Ibrox only three point behind on March 11th, winning the next two matches would leave Celtic at least 12 point clear and waving goodbye to the Would-be challengers.

After a difficult February, the players and coaching staff deserve praise for securing what is probably our most important league win of the season.



--

Philosophy - and irrefutable proof that fans make football

"Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!"
 - Thus Spake Zarathustra

It is now so ingrained in the ethos of Celtic fans that anyone who couldn't quote Jock Stein declaring that the two greatest teams in the world, without fans, are nothing would be viewed with deep suspicion.

The smart knew him to be right; the wise wouldn't have needed him to tell them.

But if any doubted the great man, they need only have witnessed Celtic playing Atletico Madrid behind closed doors, in 1985, to understand how surreal and lacking in entertainment value football without fans is.

Contrast the two occasions and results.

In one, in a hostile atmosphere, Celtic produced an excellent result. In the surreal return leg, the absence of Celtic fans was Atletico's edge.

This was, of course, a hangover from one of the worst experiences of my life supporting Celtic - the shameful Rapid Vienna affair.

Celtic were treated unjustly by UEFA but some fans were suckered, too. And how ironic that the actions of a few fans should have had such a history-defining effect on Celtic's future.

It would not be until the reign of Martin O'Neill that European football would be a positive experience for the club.

It is the presence of tens of thousands of fans, packing stadiums, that makes football and a few can undermine the experience for everyone. We have seen much of this over thelast week.

I was looking forward to the match on Saturday and, of course, very keen that Celtic should win. I explained as much on this blog.

But, however hard some try to say otherwise, I didn't have the butterflies, the anxiety or the adrenal excitement that preceded matches with the real Rangers.

None of that - the stupid superstitions, the rituals, the trying to find reassurance from other Celtic fans that we had enough to win - was there.

Yet, we witnessed a fantastic occasion.

And why? Because the ground was full and bouncing.

Tuesday was as cringe-inducing a night of football as you could ever witness. In fact, it was the sort of score against Celtic that I have always hoped never to witness.

But while the anticipation, rapidly metamorphosed into shock and then a worrying, helpless sense of inevitability, the sounds of the crowd made a no-contest into an event.

Because fans, without football, can watch Bake-Off but football, without fans, is nothing.

I have a friend who once played bass with a successful band. (He's not personally famous but  he had his moment in the sun.) He told me that the clichés about performance were true:

"The crowd gives you energy; you give it back to the crowd and then they give it back to you - amplified!"

And this was what we witnessed on Saturday – and on Tuesday (though Tuesday's recipients were not in green and white).

Yes, the game with The Rangers was a grudge match - it had added "local derby" spice and the premature rhetoric had cranked that up.

But it was neither our most difficult nor important match of the season so far. It wasn't even the most serious SPFL test, but Celtic fans spent the rest of Saturday smiling, laughing, celebrating - energised.

But that's not the whole story. All of us who have followed football know there is a joyful difference between witnessing players who can revel in such an atmosphere and those who wilt.

We've all seen them - the talented players who either get intimidated by aggressive fans in away matches or collapse under the weight of expectation, best articulated by Tony Cascarino in his hilarious autobiography. (Tony, you were so funny that I forgave you for the way you performed for us.)

Tuesday saw some do just that. The younger players, we can excuse completely. One or two more established professionals should enjoy no such indulgence.

None of the players at the Camp Nou would gain pass marks. But this was an occasion on which we saw the real “men and boys” in our own team.

Saturday was particularly enjoyable because, when the volume was cranked up to 11, we saw a team with belief in themselves, confidence in their coaches and trust in each other. On such occasions, stars rise.

And it will come as no surprise that the brightest of them all on Saturday was Moussa Dembele.

When we signed a young striker with a solid English championship season behind him, I was encouraged and pleasantly surprised. It was the sort of signing many of us had been asking for in the "on plan" years.

When he stepped up to take that penalty against Astana, many of us who had been around for a while sensed a defining moment.

Saturday was another great test, passed with flying colours and, despite being “psyched out” by the Barca keeper Ter Stegen and placing a mid-level penalty, I have no criticism of him.
Moussa has strength, close control and the ability to combine both to hold the ball in the six-yard box under intense pressure from defenders.

It is exactly the sort of skill that one former Celtic striker, now sadly reduced to being a SkySports pundit, once said he had tried to copy from Kenny Dalglish, believing that the tight confines of the playground had been an ideal training ground. (Not, not you, Andy Walker, nobody is interested in your playing style - I'm talking about Charlie Nicholas.)

People quite rightly talked about the variety of goals from Saturday but another indication of Dembele's quality was his ability to bring difficult long passes under control with his chest.

That doesn't just demonstrate learned technique but the ability to remain calm while 60,000 people are screaming at you.

And I saw no indication that he was dealing with the Camp Nou atmosphere any less well than anyone else. Playing a lone striker role against the world's best team – which is hamering your teammates behind you – is a tough task and Moussa was not the worst player on display.

Tuesday could have crushed the spirit of the team but there are still positive signs.

We have, in varying measures, skill, speed, solidity, creativity and versatility, but not enough of any of them yet. We are a long way from being a top team, as Barcelona showed – but then they have done something similar to genuinely top teams (like Valencia).

But the general direction is positive.

We faced a monumentally difficult task in Barcelona on Tuesday – and we failed.

Let's be clear - anything professional and competitive against Barca would have been a success. None of our players left with their reputations enhanced but while the occasion was too early for some, a few at least fought until the end – as always, Scott Brown – and a few let us down both in terms of performance level and courage (also known as commitment).

I expect that their names have been duly noted by the coaching staff and that they will follow some of their “team hangover” colleagues out the door when an opportunity arises.

You can make mistakes, you can play badly – not acceptable but understandable. If you play for Celtic, you better have the pride and moral courage to conspicuously give everything when things are going against you – for your teammates, your coaches and the fans.

If your hamstring has once troubled you so badly that you signalled to the bench when struggling with your lower-division rivals – and then recovered when you realised your team had used all three subs – you had better make the most of the privilege of representing Celtic against the world's finest footballers.

If an easy win makes you so cocky that you want to run around with a beachball on your head, then don't try to be the invisible clown three days later, when real footballers are running your team ragged – and real men are doing their best to try to combat it.

We have seen two mismatches over the last five days, bringing joy and discomfort to us, in equal measure.

Yet, they have both been great football occasions in their own way, because, despite the malicious jibes of those small-minded officials of a small-time club, overwhelmingly the fans made them so.

Those same fans make football – and footballers – something.

It is encouraging that almost all of our players over the two games recognised that.

Brendan Rodgers poignantly quoted Jock Stein on Saturday on the 31st anniversary of Jock's death (and the fifth anniversary of Brendan's own father).

Brendan and his coaching team – so strong on detail and so demanding of intensity – will surely be reinforcing some of Jock's simple values over the coming months.

--

Echoes of the past and green shoots of trust for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic

There is something in the air around Celtic Park at the moment, for now little more than a faint aroma but it's growing.

Brendan Rodgers asked Celtic fans to trust the players after another night when questions were asked but the right answers were delivered.

Young Team: Eoghan O'Connell and Moussa Dembele

It was far from a perfect performance and there were a few players who illustrated why Brendan is still said to be pursuing four other signings – but more of them another time. This is a time to be positive.

He is right in everything he says about fans' impatience creating extra pressure and anxiety. That leads to players making mistakes and it is only natural that a manager should try to do everything to create an atmosphere that allows his team to perform at its best.

But that trust is already slowly starting to build. If Brendan doesn't realise that, he should have been around last year.

For the past two seasons, many of the same players who were on display last night screwed up almost every time they were faced with a major test.

Fans were becoming accustomed to it. But there are signs that improvement is already being made.

There is an increasing sense that the players understand what is expected of them  – both in terms of their roles and commitment – in a way that had been missing.

That lends confidence to the fans and, if understandably nervous, most seem to be getting back that sense of belief in the team.

It will take time – and consistent professional performances – to fully restore that trust but the green shoots of hope are there.

Kieran Tierney, Eoghan O'Connell and Patrick Roberts continue to impress but honourable mention must also go to Saidy Janko who showed some of the ability that caused Manchester United fans to have such high hopes for him before he was thrust into a transitional defence at Celtic.

There are areas for improvement in his game, such as his decision making, but, crucially, he looked like a player who could develop with the sort of quality coaching most of us believe we now have at the club.

And I can't be the only one to have waited for Moussa Dembele to take that penalty, thinking that we were about to witness a pivotal moment in his career.

My mind went back to the story of a 20-year-old Kenny Dalglish tying his lace before scoring a penalty against Rangers for his first competitive goal.

Kenny later admitted that it wasn't because he was cool-as-a-cucumber but instead he was taking the chance to steady his nerves.

We don't know how far Dembele will progress but we do not need to doubt his nerve on the big occasion ever again.

Kolo Toure also brought a sense of assurance to all around him although, ironically, the goal was conceded a few minutes after he went on. We seem to have a new top-drawer defensive coach but, this time, he's on the pitch – and he can play a bit as well.

But, for me, the most surprising change was in Scott Brown. I have long been an admirer and

Play it Kolo: Toure calls for calm

defender of Brown, often taking pelters for my troubles.

I was even once harangued for having mentioned him in the same article as Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard although no direct comparison was ever made.

So I was amused to read Brendan comparing Scott to Gerrard in terms of leadership and commitment to the club.

Before he took a single match, Brendan replied, “150% yes”, to questions about whether the club captain would remain. When you hear the manager then praising him for tactical understanding and playing ability that even he hadn't expected him to have, you can finally put the constant critics to bed.

Last night's was a different performance from Scott, apparently free from being the sole input of drive in the team, trying to force play with sheer energy.

He seemed to have more time on the ball than on any occasion I can imagine, no doubt helped by the improved organisation Brendan Rodgers has brought to the team.

With that, came probably his best night in terms of ball distribution that I have ever seen from him – both long and short passing with both feet, including one 35-yard pass to put Leigh Griffiths through on goal.

Brendan has said Scott can be the playmaker and – pelters at the ready, now – there were even shades of Paul McStay in his readiness to take pressure off his teammates, switch play and create opportunities.

None of this need be taken as premature predictions of greatness for the team or individual players.

What we have are signs of progress and with them, early seeds of trust. It will be continued progress that will allow that trust to grow.

And then the sky's the limit. We may even start talking about hope.
--