If you don’t feel for Leigh Griffiths these days then you must have a heart made of ice.

The striker who bagged over 40 goals for Celtic last season has found himself on the bench this season after niggling injuries and the emergence of Moussa Dembele seen him lose his top spot.

The Scottish striker that continually gets overlooked by his country and was even overlooked by previous Celtic manager Ronny Deila in favour of  other options at first. John Guidetti was favoured by Deila but on that occasion he was eventually ablE to break his way into the managers plans because John became somewhat of a side show in the end.

Leigh Griffiths Stats:

60 goals in 86 League Games

11 Goals in 17 Cup Games

9 Goals in 29 European Games

A total of 80 goals in 132 Games

Last season his goals were vital in Celtic continuing on their quest for 10 in a row and was the talisman all the players and manager looked to when nothing was going right. He was the go to guy!

Fast forward to now and he finds himself on the bench after making his way back from injury. Before injury, he was in and out the team regularly as the manager tried to suss what his best starting XI was but the more games Moussa Dembele plays the more he becomes undroppable. The player has hit his stride leaving Leigh out in the cold in a one striker system.

The most frustrating thing for Leigh must be that he has done very little wrong to be dropped, it’s just that Moussa has taken his game to another level. Even with such an intermittent season the striker has managed to get 10 goals which says a lot about him as an attacking force. The only critique Brendan Rodgers has aimed at Leigh is his lifestyle and how he needs to live like a Champions League player if Celtic are going to be a Champions League club with players who are on another level physically and mentally.

Leigh would have taken his managers criticism’s on board but he will also know what he’s capable of doing given the chance.

This is a peculiar situation, giving reason after reason why the player deserves to start when I know full well the manager is right to keep going with Moussa. The Frenchman is scoring goals for fun and he doesn’t look like he’s getting tired of doing so.

The old analogy you wait for one bus for ages then two turn up at once comes to mind with these two strikers. For years we had to contend with sub standard strikers after the departure of Gary Hooper, players like Teemu Pukki, Mo Bangura, Miku, and Amido Balde. Now we have Leigh Griffiths and Moussa Dembele in a squad with only one place up for grabs.

From a Celtic point of view it’s comforting to know that if Moussa left tomorrow or got injured (*rapidly touches wood) the goals wouldn’t dry up. Leigh would come in and picked up where he left off.

Leigh will know he has to work extremely hard in the coming weeks and months to get precious game time. But if the forward heeds the managers advice there’s no reason why he and Dembele

 

9 COMMENTS

  1. Leigh needs to understand what BR has stated publicly is that he has no divine right to a starting place. Hard work and fitness is now a big part of modern football. Tony Watt take note…
    Leigh has to knuckle down and give the manager a dilemma…then and only then will he get restored to the 1st team. I hope for his sake he takes the hint. He has talent….but that alone is not enough

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