Leigh Griffiths started the season as the first-choice Celtic striker after his sensational 40-goal haul last season but Brendan Rodgers made a big statement by bringing in a quality young striker in Moussa Dembele to compete for a place up front with the 26-year-old Scottish striker. Celtic’s form this season has been chalk and cheese in domestic and Europe but they have not struggled for goals. The two strikers have scored 22 goals between them already this season.
Griffiths, after his excellent last season, started this season as the first-choice forward and it was quite obvious. Rodgers tried to make a room for Dembele in the team in the beginning by playing two up front or playing either of the two forwards out wide in an unnatural position.
It did not work out well before Rodgers found out that the 4-2-3-1 formation was perhaps the best suited considering the players they have.
Griffiths trumped Dembele as the first-choice forward once Celtic started playing one up front but was down with a calf injury after a few games and Dembele stepped up to fill in that void. Although Griffiths was back from injury quite some time back, the 26-year-old is yet to make a start up front after that as Moussa Dembele is in the form of his life now. However, it was Griffiths who changed the game on Sunday against Rangers after coming on from the bench as he set up Dembele for the winner.
Truth be told, Griffiths is too big a player to be dropped and Rodgers must think of a way to fit the Scotsman in the starting XI as soon as he can. Griffiths scored 30 goals in 32 appearances in the league for Celtic last term and was the driving force in their title-winning campaign. His blend of pace and power terrified defences across the Scottish Premiership as he proved just how good he can be.
Griffiths featured on the right flank against Rangers after coming on from the bench and was quite impressive with his directness, pace and crossing. James Forrest has mostly featured in that position for the Hoops this season after incredibly turning around his frozen Celtic career with Rodgers on board. However, the Scottish winger has looked a bit off-colour in recent games and it’s perhaps time for Rodgers to try playing Griffiths out wide on the right.
Switching to a two-man attack would have been a possibility but Celtic will struggle for creativity in that formation because there will be no room for Tom Rogic there who is the brain of the Celtic side right now. Rogic is not the quickest and not that influential on the flanks. So, Griffiths has to impress in an unnatural right-wing role as of now if he has to play first-team football on a regular basis.
