Leigh Griffiths seems to be fired up by Chris Sutton’s criticism of him, judging by what has been going on over the last 24 hours.
It all began, as reported by the Daily Record, when on BT Sport Sutton got tore into Griffiths in the aftermath of Celtic’s defeat to Sparta Prague, and accused the player of being overweight and out of shape.
Pundit stands by his comments
Now the dispute has continued, with the Daily Record disclosing that Griffiths confronted Sutton about his post-match comments, but the outspoken pundit stands by what he says.
The ironic thing about all this is that Griffiths was one of Celtic’s best players against Sparta. Indeed, he scored the goal and looked far better than most of his teammates.
Griffiths doesn’t seem happy about the Sutton remarks – and that could be a good thing for Celtic. The 30-year-old seems certain to start for Celtic in the must win game against Motherwell on Sunday.
You imagine that he will be highly motivated for the fixture to shut Sutton up and shove his words back down his throat.
Player will be extra motivated
A player fired-up to shut up the critics can only be a positive. It will make them try harder. Of course, Griffiths has other motivations as well. A good display against Motherwell could encourage Scotland boss Steve Clarke to give him a chance in the Euro 2020 play-off starting live-up, even though that is probably unlikely.
For a lot of this season, it seems like Celtic’s players are going through the motions for some unfathomable reasons. That is something you can’t level at Griffiths. Even when the team is playing poorly, he seems up for it, like against Sparta Prague.
Neil Lennon should use Sutton’s comments to motivate Griffiths before the game at Fir Park. That will get the striker fired up, and ready to take on all comers. A Griffiths goal or two could be the end result.
In other news, read our predicted line-up for the Celtic team to face Motherwell.
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