Chris Sutton has accused Leigh Griffiths of ‘killing Neil Lennon’.
Not in a literal sense but in the way his Lockdown actions impacted on Celtic’s preparations and build up to the new season.
The return of the striker in January gave Celtic a massive boost as the partnership with Odsonne Edouard earned the hoops 28 points out of 30.
What happened in Lockdown in anyone’s guess but with Griffiths absent and Edouard injured Celtic’s Champions League hopes were ended at home to Ferencvaros.
Griffiths trained with Celtic at Lennoxtown in June but when the squad moved on to Loughborough and France he was left behind with Lennon slaughtering his attitude and condition in public.
The striker rescued two points away to St Johnstone with a winning header but reviewing his contribution and the disruption caused Sutton was scathing on the Daily Record podcast:
One player who I have to say doesn’t sit right by me, and I know he came back and it’s good to see him back, is Leigh Griffiths.
Leigh Griffiths has killed Neil Lennon in many respects. That period when the season shut down for the pandemic where Leigh Griffiths let himself go and was out of shape, and then he was left out of the mini pre-season.
A fit Leigh Griffiths would give Celtic a much better option when Odsonne Edouard is out. The fact he can only play a few minutes of games isn’t good enough. He’s a player who needs to have a good long hard look at himself and think had he actually conditioned himself better, had he actually looked after himself better, Celtic could be in a far better place.
Following his substitute appearance in the Glasgow derby Griffiths is in contention for a staring place against AC Milan on Thursday.
