A new hero emerged at Celtic Park yesterday as Leigh Griffiths grabbed a hat-trick- and enjoyed some good natured chants of ‘Sebo’ after a few second half misses.
Without stretching the case the former Hibs and Wolves striker could have had a double hat-trick as he found himself on the end of a succession of chances created by his new team-mates.
Demonstrating his all round ability Griffiths scored a great poachers goal to open the scoring- with a strike Gary Hooper would have been proud of- followed by two spectacular efforts in the second half bringing a new dimension to Celtic’s play.
As the game developed there was a genuine sense of anticipation as Griffiths got on the ball, the sort of buzz that has been absent since a certain Swede left for Barcelona although Paddy McCourt was briefly capable of generating that elusive buzz.
With Nir Biton continuing to impress in midfield it looks like Neil Lennon may have found the successors to Victor Wanyama and Hooper in plenty of time for next season’s Champions League qualifiers.
Neither player will be at the World Cup in the summer giving them valuable rest time after helping Celtic to their third consecutive title which is now a maximum of ten points away.
“I am delighted for him and he could have had a lot more over the course of the game,” Lennon said of Griffiths who was called into the Scotland international squad to face Poland by Gordon Strachan.
“His first goal pleased me the most. We have been crying out for a penalty-box striker and that was a great ball and a great finish. He doesn’t get disappointed (when he misses), he’s hungry for more chances and he took his second and third goals brilliantly.
“His work-rate has always been good and his goal record is great. I think there’s more to come from him in terms of his link-up play as well.
“Leigh can play on his own, he’s a very intelligent footballer and he can score individual goals. We saw a glimpse of what’s ahead of us and I hope he thrives in the environment. It looks like he is enjoying himself.”
Celtic May have a new king on there hands he can score any type of goal,Leigh griffiths 30 goals a season man soon your top English clubs will want him when they were”nt interested hail hail
Griffiths is goina score a serious amount of goals for us,he’s been very impressive so far,he’s definatley a better player thn wat I thought tbh
Never doubted he would score goals for
us.His record at Hibs showed,that it was
a no-brainer to sign him.
At 23, he is a good age to have a great
career with us.
His work-rate and movement,will cause
many defences problems.
Good comments, Leigh Griffiths was a bargain and a great signing for the famous CELTIC FC. He will score more goals than Hooper and he will be a great signing for the Champions, hail hail
Ahem…I posted last week that a lot of Celtic fans were pre-judging the boy before he had had a chance to show us what he can do. I pointed out that many of us did the same thing when Henrik signed (again, I’m not saying he’s another Henrik)…the only way to know how a guy will do is to give him the chance to prove himself. Some people prattled on about the cheap price (under a million)…but the price is a false indication (Andy Carroll to Liverpool for megabucks and couldnae score in a barrel of phanies). I ended my post by predicting around 15 goals from Griffiths before the end of this season, and that he’ll continue to score in the qualifiers for the Champions League…..he’s now got 4 (5 if the blind linesman hadn’t got the ref to disallow the goal in his first game)…and I still think we’ve just got ourselves a bargain here. When the Champions comes round he’ll be ready to step up and score there too, I have no doubts.
Yeah I agree with you Funky, he came with baggage but he’s left that in Reception, now he’s gonna score a load for us, a classic example of a Good Player now plating for a Good Team….Hail Hail.