Edouard is a better player this season, says Forrest

AS eye-catching as a snapshot of Odsonne Edouard’s statistics may be, viewed in isolation, it can do the Frenchman a disservice.

For all the ever-improving graphs of goals and assists, the intangibles he offers his Celtic team-mates are, by definition, impossible to quantify.

Lining up beside him in the tunnel tomorrow, James Forrest will be able to attest to quiet confidence which permeates every corner of the dressing room whenever Edouard is in the side.

Not just a big-game player but a pivotal figure each and every time he pulls on the jersey, the mere presence of the 21-year-old seems to elevate those around him.

‘He’s quality and, if you ask any of the wingers and forwards at the club, they’ll tell you they really enjoy playing with him,’ said Forrest (below).

‘He’s always looking for one-twos and he’ll try and slip you in if he can. He’s a real threat for us. He’s always at it in every game and I believe he’s got even better this season.

‘It helps my game, having him in the team. He creates chances, as well as being a great finisher.

‘He’s also unselfish — you saw how he set up both our goals against St Mirren on Boxing Day. You get some strikers who will always be looking out for themselves but Odsonne’s got more about him, which is great for Ryan (Christie) and myself.

‘Last season he was unbelievable but he’s kicked on since then. His performances in Europe have been right up there — and he’s our main threat. If we’re on the back foot, he’ll do something a lot of other players can’t to get us up the park.’

When Edouard stepped off the bench after 59 minutes of the Betfred Cup final, the atmosphere inside Hampden changed at a stroke.

Buoyed by the dominant display of their side up until that point, a hush immediately descended over the Rangers support.

Within 60 seconds, that sense of foreboding had been justified. Having drawn a foul from Connor Goldson, Edouard watched his compatriot Christopher Jullien volley home the only goal of the game.

‘You saw it straight away in the cup final,’ Forrest recalled. ‘He missed maybe three or four games before but came back and for 30 minutes he looked really sharp.

‘He won the free-kick for the goal and put Mikey (Johnston) through on goal.

‘A lot of teams obviously will be aware of his threat.

‘When we are on the back foot, he can produce something out of nothing.

‘When you go into big games, the European and Rangers games, he doesn’t say much, he goes into it so laid back.

‘You see it with his performances as well. It doesn’t seem to matter to him who he plays against.

‘He always comes out and produces. That’s the sign of a big player.’

With Edouard on board from the start and home advantage in their favour, the expectation is that Celtic will deliver a display markedly better than the last joust at Hampden.

Yet, even if the desired heights are not scaled, Forrest takes comfort from knowing that they have recent experience of triumphing against their rivals in adverse circumstances.

‘Any cup final against Rangers is always going to be hard,’ he added. ‘If you look at the last three or four times we’ve played them, it’s been tough.

‘But although we would have loved to have gone out and played our best and won comfortably, it doesn’t always happen like that.

‘We showed a different side to our game — we were able to grind it out.

‘You’d rather play well and win but it wasn’t to be. But we still managed to get over the line.’

Losing to Rangers at Parkhead for the first time in a decade would not diminish anything that’s gone before but it would make for a long three weeks.

Recalling the mental hangover that came by losing by a goal at Ibrox one year back, Forrest plans to enjoy the Dubai sunshine without cause for regret.

‘For weeks, everyone was still feeling it,’ he recalled. ‘So everyone will want to change that this year.

‘Normally when you lose a game or have a bad result or performance, there’s always a game in three days and everyone always believes they can put it right. ‘It was that waiting for three weeks for the next game. ‘We obviously came back and had a really good run. That was maybe a factor — it did hurt after that game. ‘But we’ve won 11 games (in a row) in the league now, so we couldn’t be in better form. ‘It’s definitely not over no matter what happens. But we want to go into the break in a real positive attitude. It would put us in a good position in all the competitions this season.’