Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge Leigh Griffiths fan. He has his issues off the field at times, but on it there is no doubting his ability. Leigh possesses speed, exceptional movement, a great touch, football intelligence and above all – outstanding goalscoring ability.
I believe that he was the key to Celtic winning the league last season. The change in shape, going to 3-5-2, was a success because Griffiths came in. He brought the best out of Edouard and scored plenty of goals himself.
I believe that getting him in the starting line up this time around can be the key to winning the title.
Not only does Griff have the confidence and enthusiasm that seems to be missing from much of the squad, but he also is the best goalscorer in the country in my opinion. 3-5-2 doesn’t suit us with the current personnel, but Leigh has the ability to play in a 4-5-1, with an attacking midfielder behind him, or he can be adopted in a 4-4-2 alongside Ajeti or Edouard.
Already this season he has scored two goals in three league games, playing less than 90 minutes combined.
I decided to look into Griffiths’ goalscoring record at Celtic and the findings were phenomenal. According to soccerbase.com, Leigh Griffiths has played 154 league games for Celtic. He started 99 of those league games and made 55 appearances from the bench. His return is now 86 league goals. That’s a (league) goal per game ratio of 0.56 goals per game. If you cancel out the sub appearances then Leigh has a ratio of 0.87 goals per (league) game that he starts!
Undoubtedly, his goalscoring ability can be the key to Celtic overturning the small deficit in the league table.
