Celtic are no longer champions. For large periods of this season, the writing has been on the wall and now it’s been confirmed.
John Kennedy’s men needed a victory on Sunday to ensure Rangers had to wait another week to win the SPFL but they slipped up by drawing 0-0 with Dundee United.
They were met with an inspirational performance from Benjamin Siegrist who made as many as 12 saves on Sunday afternoon.
Celtic tried their best to take the title to another week but not even one of their best first-half performances of the term could stop Rangers from winning the league.
In the first half, the Hoops managed 17 shots at Siegrist’s goal, the most they’ve had in the opening 45 minutes of a game in the entire season.
They lacked ruthlessness, much as they have throughout the 2020/21 campaign. Clearly, they were already out for the count when they travelled to Tannadice.
Rate Edouard’s performance out of 10…
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However, when your best player is out of sorts, you don’t have much hope. Odsonne Edouard has been magnificent lately but his performance on Sunday was incredibly frustrating.
The Frenchman has scored nine goals in his last ten outings and this was undoubtedly his worst performance during that run of games. Edouard was constantly running into defenders and wasn’t his cutthroat self inside the penalty area.
One moment typified Celtic’s season. The striker plucked a long ball out of the air with relative ease but after advancing towards the area, he got his feet in a tangle which allowed the defender to make an excellent recovering block.
That was probably Edouard’s best chance of the game and he spurned it. He was isolated up front and made just one more touch (41) than goalkeeper Scott Bain.
The forward only managed 18 passes in the entire match and lost a considerable 75% of the duels he competed in. He had two shots saved by Siegrist but neither were too taxing for the Dundee United goalkeeper.
There seemed to be a lack of interest to his play but who can blame him? This is probably Edouard’s final campaign at Parkhead.
In the last week alone, he has been linked with moves to both Arsenal and Leicester City. This is the first time Celtic haven’t won the league with Edouard leading the line; it would be a timely and sad way for the two to part ways.
That being said, the time undoubtedly feels right. The Bhoys need a fresh start.
AND in other news, Imagine him & Edouard: Celtic must swoop for £7.2m-rated beast with 8 G/A this term…