Scotland travel to the Czech Republic tonight in the Nations League and will likely start with Lyndon Dykes up front – and that should be enough to prove that the country still misses Leigh Griffiths.
Nothing against Dykes here. The former Livingston-turned-QPR striker proved he was a handful against the likes of Celtic and Rangers last season. He also has pace, power, and decent enough hold-up play.
But he’s nowhere near international level.
Dykes is only there at the moment because there’s absolutely nobody else to choose from. Why else do you select a player who has only had one half-decent season that reaped a total of 11 goals? (Transfermarkt).
Outside of the former Livingston man, Scotland boss Steve Clarke has the option of Oliver Burke in his current squad. If ever there was an SOS call needing sent to Griffiths, it’s now.
Scotland have also been left in poor fashion by Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie during the current break. He was initially called up only for him to play for his club two days later (BBC).
Yet, with nine international appearances and not a goal or even a good performance to go with them, McBurnie hasn’t been anywhere near good enough to take Griffiths’ place in the side.
The days of going with Steven Naismith and relying on him are also over. Granted, the Hearts man is a hard worker, but he has nowhere near the goalscoring ability of a Griffiths.
That’s what the nation continues to miss – a genuine goalscorer.
The results don’t lie
Griffiths’ last game for his country came in September 2018 when he featured in a 20-minute cameo against Albania. Since then, Scotland have played 14 competitive games and burned through seven striking options. Only four goals have come from centre-forwards.
Yes, the Celtic man has shot himself in the foot over the last few weeks and only has himself to blame for not being in the squad this week. However, the Scotland squad still desperately needs him.
If you go back to March when Griff was firing alongside Odsonne Edouard, he makes that Scotland starting XI comfortably. He’s the most natural finisher the country has, and when he isn’t fit it has a massively negative reaction on our results.
When Griffiths was regularly in the Scotland side under Gordon Strachan, results were a massive improvement. In 2017, Strachan started Griffiths in all of his World Cup qualification matches. Scotland won four and drew two (Transfermarkt).
Now under Clarke, Scotland have only won four of his nine matches – with one coming against San Marino, Kazakhstan, and two against Cyprus. Hardly world-beaters just yet.
The fact Dykes is so easily getting a call-up and in fact getting thrown into the side shows just how much Griffiths hasn’t been replaced since he went through his previous issues. Yes, Dykes might score tonight against the Czech Republic B side, but that doesn’t change a thing.
Now, it’s down to Celtic man Griffiths to prove his doubters wrong and start starring for club and country again, just as he did three years ago.
Celtic team-mate Tom Rogic posted an image on his Instagram yesterday that showed Griff was back on the grass. Clarke should be celebrating that fact as much as any Celtic supporter.
Scotland needs the Hoops striker, and the sooner he’s back the better for the nation.
In other news, Johan Mjallby has admitted he’s open to a return to the UK as he touched on his failed negotiations with a League Two club last season.
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