IT’S TIME FOR BIG GUNS EDOUARD AND MORELOS TO SETTLE THE DEBATE
TURN the clock back to this time last season and there wouldn’t have been many Rangers players who would have made it into a combined Old Firm XI.
Allan McGregor would have been in it. Maybe James Tavernier on a good day. But, beyond that, it would have been slim pickings in a team dominated by Celtic players.
It’s a different picture now, though, and this is the most evenly-matched the teams have been in years as we head into Sunday’s showdown in the Betfred Cup final.
Yeah, Rangers have spent good money to close the gap. A £7million outlay on Ryan Kent and a wage packet north of £30,000 a week for Jermain Defoe are testament to that.
But that’s only part of the equation. You also have to give Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister credit for the way they have improved players.
Ryan Jack and Glen Kamara are the prime examples. Jack has been outstanding this season in the way he has turned himself into a genuine box-to-box midfielder, while Kamara has been a revelation since moving from Dundee.
Yet, more than any other area, it’s the centre-forward position and the battle for supremacy between Odsonne Edouard and Alfredo Morelos which embodies how tight things are between the teams.
It’s turning into Scottish football’s version of the Messi v Ronaldo debate, although opinion tends to be coloured by green or blue allegiances.
Yet, even if you were to ask a neutral, I don’t think you’d get a clear consensus on who is the better player. How do you actually judge it?
Is it purely down to goals? What about assists? Is it trophies won? Individual accolades? Is it their record of doing the business in big games?
If you’re looking purely at goals, then Morelos edges it. The Colombian has found the net 26 times in 33 games for club and country this season.
All of which is coming off the back of a 30-goal campaign last time around. All in all, he’ll end up proving to be the best £1m Rangers ever spent as and when he leaves for a huge profit.
But Edouard has a strong case himself. He has 14 goals in 25 games for Celtic this season — and he’s also been banging them in for fun for France Under-21s.
In six games for the French this term, he has rifled in 11 goals. It’s only a matter of time before he breaks into the senior team for the world champions alongside Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann and the likes.
So, all things told, for both club and country this season: Morelos has 26 goals in 33 games, while Edouard has 25 in 31 games.
For me, Edouard is a more rounded player than Morelos — and he also has a proven track record of delivering in the big games.
Look at last season when he scored in both the semi-final and final of the Scottish Cup, one of which was a late winner to clinch an unprecedented treble Treble.
The boy has ice in his veins. He has tormented Rangers in the past, with a record of five goals in seven games against the Ibrox side.
Morelos, on the other hand, has never scored against Celtic. He has more red cards than goals in Old Firm games, with a couple of high-profile sitters thrown in for good measure.
Listen, I fully understand he’s been doing it in Europe. His brace of headers against Feyenoord last week showcased just what a talented finisher he is.
But your record against Celtic is a key part in the make-up of any
Rangers striker — and vice versa. You can’t overlook that.
The reason is simple. More often than not, putting your Old Firm rivals to the sword will mean you’ve fired your club to silverware.
Morelos has broken scoring records in Europe. Not for one second am I trying to diminish that, but there’s a different type of pressure in Old Firm games.
When you’re away to the likes of a Feyenoord or a Porto, you’re the underdog and can play with a certain level of freedom.
But that goes out the window when it’s a game against your most bitter rivals. The pressure levels are absolutely through the roof.
is a huge occasion for
Gerrard as he seeks to win his first piece of silverware as a manager and also deny Celtic what would be a tenth straight domestic trophy.
He made a mess of things in the first Old Firm game of the season in early September. He effectively played five central midfielders and left Morelos on the bench.
There’s absolutely no chance that’ll happen this weekend — and I also fully expect Edouard to play, despite Neil Lennon playing it cagey with his comments yesterday.
It promises to be one hell of a shootout between Scottish football’s top two gunslingers. Only one of them can come out on top...