Former St Johnstone defender Joe Shaughnessy has asserted who he thinks is the best forward in Scotland, in an interview with the Daily Record.
The 27-year-old spent four years at McDiarmid Park, after leaving Aberdeen in 2015. Up until this summer, he’d played all of his professional football in Scotland, but he’s since moved south of the border to join Southend United.
Last season, he formed a good centre-back partnership with Jason Kerr, with the Saints keeping a clean sheet at Ibrox back in February.
When asked who he thought was a more dangerous operator out of Rangers’ Alfredo Morelos and Celtic’s Odsonne Edouard, he asserted it was a difficult choice. He plucked for the Gers man in the end, though.
Rangers striker Morelos harder to face
“I would probably rather play against Edouard,” Shaughnessy told the Daily Record. “When I came up against both of them last season for St Johnstone, I feared Morelos more.”
“His work in the box is up there with the best I’ve ever played against. And he just never gives you a minute’s rest. You knew he’d throw himself into any challenge on the pitch.
“On top of that you knew he had the quality to hurt you as well. Edouard is dangerous with his link-up play but he’s not as physically aggressive as Morelos. In saying all of that, neither of them were easy to play against!”
Verdict
This a contentious topic for fans, with Bears claiming Morelos is superior, while Celtic supporters point to Edouard’s strong Old Firm record as a counter-argument.
It’s good to hear from an impartial source that El Bufalo carries more of an all-round threat.
There’s an obsession about his failure to net on derby day, but the fact of the matter is, he was the top goal scorer in the league last season. He reached 30 goals in all competitions, despite his disciplinary issues.
Morelos scored seven times more than Edouard across 2018/19 and already has four more than the Frenchman at this early stage of the 2019/20 campaign.
The 23-year-old’s outstanding overall returns are what makes it so puzzling that he was left on the bench for last Sunday’s derby.
That’s in the past now, though, and the Colombian marksman must help lift the mood around Ibrox once more, by hitting the ground running after the international break.
