Leigh Griffiths

Edited by staff

 

And my point is Edouard is not levels ahead of Griff. I'm not denying Eddys ability or what hes done or might do. I'm not having a go at Eddy nor am I wishing him sold. But there is absolutely nothing Eddy has done that Griff hasnt.

My preference is Griff in front everytime before Eddy.. it's just my opinion

 

Great header today from Leandro Griffinho.

 

Delighted to have him back.

Is he in the Scotland squad? Be good for him to get a couple of 30 min cameos off the bench, get more game time in his legs.

 

To be honest my preference would be the two of them up front like the end of last season...Phenomenal

 

When the two of them played together we were awesome at times. The two would be my choice

 

HE knows he let himself down by ballooning up.

Now Leigh Griffiths is ready to only dine out on being a Celtic hero once again.


The striker spent the last few months in disgrace after returning from lockdown overweight.


Left behind in pre-season while his team-mates headed for France, Griff has had to wait until October to win back Neil Lennon’s trust.


He went some way to repaying it by scoring a crucial 90th-minute header against St Johnstone to help the Hoops to a precious three points at McDiarmid Park.

And now he’s hungry to play a bigger role in Celtic’s bid for ten in a row.




Griff admitted: “I let myself down, my club down. I let everybody down.

“Did I think my time was up at Celtic? No.



I spoke to the gaffer at length many times and he always said that as long as he is here I will be here.

“I need to keep working on my fitness and make sure that when I am called upon I make an impact.

“Hopefully I will do well in the next few games and start repaying them.

“Of course it has been a difficult time but I have been working away trying to get my fitness back up.


It was a blow, but it was my own fault and I had to take it on the chin.

“When the team was away I had worked hard to make sure I was still in the plans when I came back.


“I did that and managed to force my way back into the squad.

“Unfortunately for me I got injured just before the Hamilton game, which wasn’t ideal, and then it is one of those things.

“I have been working ever so hard to get back.

“It’s unfortunate that Albian Ajeti got injured and gave me my chance to come back in. I took it and now I need to build on it.

“I managed to get on the bench the last three games now, so I have done myself no harm.”

Griff’s lack of fitness has also robbed Scotland of their most potent striker, with Steve Clarke’s side going into the crucial Euro 2020 play-off against Israel on Thursday without him.

He hopes to make the step back into the fold for the national team next month, but will spend the next fortnight before facing Rangers in the first Old Firm game of the season working hard to get even sharper.

Celtic’s ability to bring on five subs helped turn this game in their favour after stuffy Saints snuffed them out for long spells.


And while Griffiths grabbed the headlines, he insists the roles played by fellow scorer Patryk Klimala, skipper Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic shouldn’t be overlooked.

He said: “I’ve got a chance over the next two weeks to get my fitness up to the same level as the boys, come back and kick on.

“But it’s not about me, it is about the team getting three points and carrying that momentum on into the international break.

“It wasn’t just me who made an impact. It was Patryk, Tom, Broony and Ryan, they all made a contribution.

“We’ve got four great strikers here. Patryk came on and scored today and Odsonne Edouard scored in midweek.

“Albian was on fire before he got injured. We’ve got four great strikers looking to play a part in every single game.

“Competition for places is good and we want to keep that going. We knew St Johnstone were going to make it hard and try to hit us on the counter-attack.

“But it was about us trying to break that down and unfortunately for us it took until the 90th minute to get the ball in the net.”


Celtic’s lunchtime kick-off ended just before Rangers took to the pitch against Ross County.

And Griffiths insists winning late on will have shown the Ibrox side they’re not about to let their reign as champions be taken off them easily.

Grinding out results when you don’t play well is a characteristic of teams who win titles.

And the Hoops striker insists they have that bottle in abundance.


He said: “That’s the thing about a title race, you need to keep going right to the end. That’s what you want. You want the team to keep going for 90 minutes.

“You can’t come off that at any point because you never know when points will be dropped.

“Thankfully for us, it doesn’t matter about the starting XI or the bench, we’ve got a whole squad here who can come in and contribute. Rangers would be thinking we were going to drop points and the boys came off the bench and produced two goals.

“We just carry on doing what we do, try to pick up three points and make sure we are gathering momentum.”

Griffiths will watch his Scotland team-mates try to get to next summer’s Euros and hopes to join them again next month for the play-off final if they see off Israel.


He said: “Hopefully I can be, but for me personally it’s about getting my fitness up.

“I’ve got two long weeks to go and I’ll be working ever so hard to make sure my fitness levels are up for upcoming games.”

 

Thankfully not, he needs to continue work on fitness.

 

With his troubles outwith football it was no surprise to me that he would struggle with the covid pandemics impact on football. Thought it was harsh the way the club hung him out to dry. But he sounds dedicated, accepted responsibility and hopefully now he has routine and normality back he goes from strength to strength. Eddies our top striker but id be playing 2 up top. Griffiths and ajetti get equal gametime beside him. The both deserve it. Paddy rests eddie and covers injuries

 

Kris Commons tells Leigh Griffiths one goal won't be enough to wipe the slate clean for him at Celtic

 

Wish our fans would ignore this fat *

 

Had to have his say as usual.. spouting his negative pish for £££.

 

Brilliant to see him back and getting what was effectively the winner yesterday.

Only on for a short time but looked bright even before his goal. Made a couple of good runs and generally looked pretty lively. Only on a short time and against a tiring defence etc etc but positive nonetheless.

Having him fit and available over the course of the season will be great for us. You can bring him on in games like yesterday and he can do something to make the defence, whether it be a 'right-place-right-time' goal, or banging in a free kick, or even his set piece delivery.

 

I really think he is going to have one * of a season for us,one * of season!!!

 

It wasn't him who kept himself out until October, it was the manager who deemed him (and Klimala) unfit, even though he played normally without showing it in the pre season. Thankfully, he isn't a fud with a grudge like you, played Griffiths when the 35 million euro french boy was playing dead and now thanks to him we are not 3 points behind Sevco. Dedicated and focused yet, runs, searches for the ball and doesn't hide from the game despite "unfit". You seem almost sad we didn't drop points. Griffiths will keep shutting your mouth and coming back from dead many times.

 

Kris Commons tells the daily mail... Celtic fans tell the daily mail to stick their rag up Kris Commons fat hole

 

Commons gave Boydy a gobble and still got hunted from Sky

 

I’m so happy he’s back. His goal return is unreal. I didn’t realise how good he was until I saw him live at a few consecutive games.

He does things that you can’t appreciate from TV. He’s a constant pain in the * for defenders. Moving them all over the shop even when our back line are passing the ball around.

Plays on the shoulder, and every defender no matter how good they are, hate players that run in behind.