STILLHUNTING FOR EDOUARD
DECLAN GALLAGHER admits facing on-fire Odsonne Edouard is a horrific experience.
The Motherwell defender was tortured by Celtic’s flying French striker during the 4-0 midweek defeat at Fir Park.
Gallagher described Edouard “unplayable” and “unstoppable” after the chastening evening and says he’s still hunting for the Hoops ace, who now has 24 goals for the season after his latest Lanarkshire double.
The Fir Park stopper said: “He is definitely the best I’ve come up against this season.
“His one-touch play, his link-up, he’s two-footed – he has got absolutely everything, all the attributes. It’s hard to stop him.
“When Edouard is on that kind of form he is unplayable.
“I was trying to get tight to him during the match but I’m still actually looking for him now to see if I can find him to get tight to him.
“He was excellent. It’s hard to play against someone when they are on that kind of form, scoring two goals. His free-kick summed up the quality he has and his all-round general play is great.
“He can drop off into the hole, he can go in behind, his movement is great.
“Half the time you think he’s jogging about but he’s just an exceptional player and I think I will try to avoid him until I need to play him again.”
Gallagher was asked if facing Edouard was a stiff learning curve but he added: “The fact he is about five years younger than me, I don’t think I am learning.
“It’s a horrible experience playing against him because when he is on his game he is unstoppable. But it’s a good experience to come up against a guy like that and see the standard you have to get up to.”
With that in mind, Motherwell will try to use the lessons when they aim for a place in the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Stephen Robinson’s men go along the M8 to face St Mirren in a mouthwatering top-flight tie.
Gallagher and his colleagues are trying to take some positives from the way they pushed the champions for half of the game before succumbing.
He said: “For 45 minutes we matched Celtic and we showed we are up for the press. We played three up top against their three at the back.
“We went man for man. It wasn’t ideal losing the early goal but we had chances ourselves and matched them until halftime. After that they completely dominated.
“We have to get the last couple of results out of the way ahead of Cup weekend.
“Those last two results have not been great but the result at Aberdeen went for us on Wednesday night and we are still in third place.
“So we have to get that out the system, look forward to the Scottish Cup and try to get through to the next round.”