Neil Lennon reckons he’s got the old Odsonne Edouard back.
The French striker struck twice at McDiarmid Park to give Celtic a fourth-straight success.
Edouard’s brace moved him onto the 20-goal mark for the campaign, but it’s not the numbers or the statistical element which is really pleasing the manager.
It’s the touch, the energy, the hunger and application.
Edouard isn’t just hitting the net again with regularity. The Parkhead talisman is beginning to display some of the old tricks, swagger and feints which made him feared by defenders across the country for the past two seasons and allowed the club to put a £30million price tag on his head.
Lennon savoured seeing Edouard showing the old traits during his power-packed second-half show at Perth which was enough to turn the game around and gave the visitors a deserved win.
Asked if Edouard was getting back to his best, the boss said: “He is. Not just his goals, but his play in general, particularly in the second half, was superb.
“He is definitely looking more and more like the player he was during last season.
“I don’t know (what is the difference). He just seems a lot more settled. I think there were a lot of things on his mind in the first half of this season.
“He has really found his form now and we’re delighted because he makes us better. That’s the sort of form he was showing this time last season.
“It augurs well for between now and the end of the season. He is in great goalscoring form, but I was pleased with his all-round performance.
“His physicality was back, his running was better and certainly his technique on the ball was very good.”
It wasn’t just Edouard who shone at the top end of the pitch for the champions.
Both of the Frenchman’s goals were crafted by excellent pieces of skill and thought from team-mate Ryan Christie, who produced a brilliant run and cross for the first and a delicious dummy for the second.
Tom Rogic kept at it throughout the 90 minutes to follow up his match winning display against St Mirren in the team's previous outing and Lennon also gave out praise to much-maligned stopper Shane Duffy.
The Irish international returned to the starting line-up due to an injury to youngster Stephen Welsh.
Duffy looked as though he could have done better when Shaun Rooney headed the home team into the lead at McDiarmid Park at the beginning of the second period, but the manager preferred to pick out the positives of the all-round display.
He said: “I thought Christie was good, bright and energetic. Rogic had a good game. Greg Taylor had another fine game and we defended resolutely at times when we needed to.
“Again, that’s something we haven’t done as well as we could have done this year.
“I thought he (Duffy) was pretty steady. There were no frills and that’s what we want from him, a good steady performance.
“I thought Kris Ajer alongside him dovetailed quite well. It’s been difficult with so many out. Welsh, Chris Jullien, Nir Bitton, plus Hatem (Elhamed) has gone. It’s been a bit stop-start in the centre-half position.”
Celtic were unfortunate to go behind in the game having taken a grip towards the interval, but had the attitude and desire to fight their way back into the contest to win it in the end and reduce the gap at the top of the table to Rangers to 18 points.
Lennon was delighted with various aspects of the performance and feels that his entire team, and not just Edouard, is looking much more like their old selves again.
He said: “It was a very good performance. I was disappointed not to be ahead at half-time because I thought we were very good in the last 20 minutes of the half.
"We took a blow with the first real attempt St Johnstone had on goal and our reaction was excellent. We scored two brilliant goals and we could have won the game by a lot more.
“The body language and performances are very good at the minute. We are not grinding out results, we are playing very well.”
Celtic just need to keep winning at this stage of the season with the championship having looked a near impossibility for the past six weeks since their punishing loss to the league leaders at Ibrox.
Yesterday’s win gave Lennon’s team a fourth-straight triumph for the first time since last October and the squad are now aiming to maintain the momentum when they host Aberdeen on Wednesday night.
Derek McInnes’ side are toiling for goals at the moment as they also struggle for results, but Lennon is looking just to his side in the hope they keep grinding and digging out results with pride the key to the remainder of the term.
Lennon is happy with the positivity around the camp and the play at the moment as he said: “I think there is a team spirit and they are all playing for each other.
“We have had a really good reaction to the defeat against St Mirren. That’s four wins on the bounce. Although we are a long way back we just need to keep working away at the performances.”
