Leigh Griffiths gets morale-boosting appraisal from Celtic captain Scott Brown

By David Walton

September 28, 2020

Celtic captain Scott Brown has stated the need for Leigh Griffiths to get up to full match sharpness as quickly as possible.

Griffiths has been out of the picture in Glasgow after picking up a calf injury before the season began. Instead, he’s had to watch on as the likes of Odsonne Edouard, Albian Ajeti, and Patryk Klimala have earned positive reviews in his place.

However, Griff returned to the matchday squad for the first time this season against Hibs yesterday. He wasn’t given any time on the pitch, but his return to the squad was a positive sign about where he is in terms of his fitness.

Celtic and Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

And Brown has given him a morale-boosting appraisal as he stressed the need to get him back up to speed.

As quoted by the Daily Record, Brown said: “He [Griffiths] has been working hard and he knows what’s expected of him.

“Everyone knows what he can do on the pitch. His left foot’s a wand and he’s one of the best finishers I’ve ever played with.

“So we just need to make sure he’s match fit and get him up to speed as quickly as possible.”

A glimmer of an opportunity if Griffiths gets fit quickly

Griffiths hasn’t managed regular first-team football since March, before football across Britain was shut down due to the global health pandemic. Therefore, it could take him a bit of time to get truly up to speed.

However, in saying that, if he could impress Lennon at Lennoxtown enough that he gets some minutes in the upcoming matches against Sarajevo and Ross County, it could be a big opportunity for him to shoot himself back into the manager’s plans.

With Albian Ajeti currently nursing a hamstring knock, Griffiths has to be looking at that as a big gap that needs filling. Yes, Patryk Klimala is ahead of him as things stand, but so far he’s yet to prove that he’s truly better than a firing Leigh Griffiths.

Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths after scoring / (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

That may be optimistic, however. Griffiths hasn’t even played at all since pre-season in a friendly match against Hibs. Lennon has never been in any rush to push players out onto the pitch when they’re trying to rebuild their sharpness – just look at Ajeti and Klimala in the opening weeks of the season.

Just having him back is the main thing in any case. With 20-odd matches potentially still to come between now and the end of 2020, we need all the squad depth we can get.

The coming weeks are certainly going to be interesting.

In other news, an exciting talent linked with Celtic dominated Gonzalo Higuain last night.