Leigh Griffiths vs Bayo could end up being one of the most intriguing battles of the season.
For the former, that could be a real worry too. It feels like it’s been a constant struggle for Griff to prove his point ever since Moussa Dembele replaced him in the first-team for that 5-1 mauling of Rangers back in September 2016.
Ever since then, Griffiths has had to deal with being an alternative choice as opposed to the main choice.
That’s continued once again this season since he returned from his personal issues. Griff, as expected, has been playing second-fiddle to Odsonne Edouard up top. The Frenchman has banged home six goals this season, and is proving to be a real talisman for the Hoops on the big occasion.
But in yesterday’s 1-0 win at Hamilton, Griff may have just dropped down to third choice.
When Celtic needed fresh legs up top, Lennon turned to Bayo over the Scotland international. The Ivorian impressed against Hearts several weeks ago, and played a key part in two goals in a 3-1 home success. He also nearly bagged a goal at Hamilton too when he caught a corner with a glancing header. Unfortunately, it only bounced onto the ground and into the arms of Owain fon Williams.
Griffiths’ task at Celtic has gotten a lot harder
At the start of the season when Griffiths bagged goals against Nomme Kalju and Motherwell respectively, it looked promising for him. He looked like he was genuinely going to be putting in a challenge to Edouard.
However, Bayo’s sudden emergence has made his task a lot harder. And the fact Neil Lennon turned to the former Dunajska Streda forward over Griffiths is telling too.
It could be a horses for courses-type approach from the Celtic manager. Lennon may have simply wanted a physical specimen up top to battle for the ball and get Celtic up the pitch as they struggled to keep a grip on the game in the second half.
However, Griffiths has had real success on Hamilton’s astroturf surface in the past. Before yesterday, he had netted on five of his last six visits to Accies. In terms of goals, he’s our talisman at the humorously-named Fountain of Youth stadium.
Yet he was overlooked by a player who is still relatively untested in Scotland. For Griff, that doesn’t read well, and it shows he has a lot more hard work to do to shrug off the competition at Parkhead.
Yesterday seemed made up for Griffiths to come on and make an impact. His manager clearly didn’t think so. Is he now Celtic’s third-choice striker? That’s difficult to say for sure, but he’s certainly not a stick-on for second-choice as it stands. Griffiths, however, will undoubtedly relish the challenge.
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