Odsonne Édouard is the closest thing to marmite at Crystal Palace Football Club. In his three seasons at Selhurst Park, Édouard has scored 16 goals in 75 Premier League appearances - a far worse conversion rate (roughly one in every four and a half games) than the one in two the Frenchman maintained at his prior club Celtic. Admittedly the Premier League is a major step up from the SPFL, but supporters’ criticisms of Édouard don’t lie solely in the statistics.
There’s no denying he kicked off life in SE25 with a bang, scoring two goals in his first ten minutes in a Palace shirt, and earning Patrick Vieira’s side a first win of the season against Tottenham Hotspur. His immediate impact left Palace fans believing that the answer to the club’s long-standing striker conundrum had finally been found - but he’s never been able to consistently replicate that sort of form.
When it comes to involvement in the attacking phase, Édouard is relatively muted. It’s not down to a lack of effort - he regularly finds himself in the box, displaying his desire to be at the heart of the action. However, he is a player that thrives off balls into the box instead of slow and central build-up, and Palace has never been able to regularly play to his strengths.
As a result of being a more traditional poacher, Édouard’s ability to play with his back to goal is severely lacking. He appears both slower and weaker than the majority of centre-backs he comes up against, and rarely contributes in a target-man type role. Instead, his best link-up occurs in counter-attacking scenarios, when he is able to carry the ball forward before taking it on himself or setting a winger through on goal - as demonstrated by his 0.85 key passes per game this season.
Édouard should be lauded for his defensive qualities, where he has succeeded in filling the gap left by his predecessor, Christian Benteke. His aerial tendencies see him regularly challenging for and winning headers, whilst his ability to block shots adds an extra layer of defensive contribution to his game. This aspect of Édouard frequently goes unnoticed, with more of that credit going towards the in-form Jordan Ayew. Additionally, Édouard's availability is consistently high, with the Frenchman missing only two matches this season through injury.
However, the numbers don’t lie - Édouard averages a goal every 4.6 Premier League games for Palace. This is simply not a high enough conversion rate for a team trying to compete for a top half finish, as Palace are targeting this season.
Crystal Palace aren’t exactly a club with a plethora of striking options, and past Odsonne Édouard, Roy Hodgson’s only option is the lumbering frame of Jean-Philippe Mateta. Mateta doesn’t have the best record at Palace either, scoring just six goals in fifty league games for the Eagles. This strike rate means Édouard cannot be feeling much of a threat from his direct competition, even if Mateta can offer more in the build-up when Palace are possession-dominant.
After two mediocre seasons in the Premier League, Édouard has started to improve his frequency of goalscoring, however, his poor decision-making and offside awareness continue to cause extreme frustration amongst Palace’s ever-loyal supporters. The contrast between his clear technical ability to put the ball in the back of the net (at close distances), and his inability to offer anything outside of each penalty area, has made him one of the most divisive and discussed players at the club.
After his performance against Everton, where he scored but missed multiple chances and was regularly offside, no two people shared the same opinion on Édouard, with everybody noticing a different talking point about the Frenchman’s performance. Now, it wasn’t his worst performance in a Palace shirt, but there was much left to be desired.
Debates surrounding Édouard’s performances tend to occur after every game, with most Palace supporters being frustrated at the lack of an out and out striker in the squad, especially with most of the teams around the Eagles having a consistent, established number nine. This frustration would be helped by competition for the position being of a generally higher quality - and Édouard should be looking over his shoulder after the recent links to players such as Hugo Ekitike.
With Michael Olise’s return from injury, Édouard can expect more frequent and higher-quality crosses from the wings, playing to his strengths as a poacher in and around the six yard box. However, this promise comes at a cost - he will no longer be able to hide behind the age-old claim that any poor form is the product of lacking service. For the sake of an injury-riddled squad and our own enjoyment of football, let’s hope Édouard can make the most of Olise’s talents whilst he’s still at the club, and finally meet the expectations he set for himself on his debut.