LEIGH Griffiths wants to become a permanent fixture as Celtic’s No 9 but for now he will accept a temporary solution. The forward moved so quickly to stake a claim for the cherished digit once it became apparent its previous owner, John Guidetti, would not be returning for a second season that the club’s kitman is yet to produce strips and training gear for him with the new number emblazoned on it.
That didn’t deter Griffiths, however, who wandered contentedly around the club’s training ground the other day in a T-shirt with a nine hastily sewn over the top of his old No 28.
“Getting anything from the kitman is like getting blood from a stone,” he laughed. “So I’ve got the shirt with the patch on for now. You can still see the old number underneath so it looks like 298”.
What squad number a player wears is a fairly trivial matter to all but the statistically obsessed, but the significance of being allowed to wear the No 9 shirt is not lost on Griffiths. Granted, he had to ask manager Ronny Deila if he could have it, but accepting the mantle of becoming Celtic’s leading striker was a further demonstration he feels increasingly at ease with operating at this level.
There is often little correlation between a player’s number and his role in the team but the No 9, by and large, is usually reserved for the leading centre forward. With Guidetti gone, Nadir Ciftci just arrived and Stefan Scepovic and Anthony Stokes both seemingly peripheral to requirements, there has never been a better time for Griffiths to prove he has what it takes to do the role justice.
Of course, he has to establish himself in the team first – notwithstanding injury scares such as that which occurred during yesterday’s SPFL Premiership opener against Ross County. Ciftci’s six-game domestic suspension means Griffiths, given the all clear by Deila following the 2-0 win, will likely remain first choice for the opening league games but in the Champions League arena it is a different story. It was Ciftci who started against Qarabag in the home leg of the third qualifying round tie last week and could well get the nod again in the return leg in Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
Griffiths, though, believes he has the credentials to take on such a responsibility having repeatedly proved his doubters wrong during his 18 months at the club.
“All the questions that have been put to me I’ve answered,” he said. “Last year it was, ‘can I get fitter and stronger?’ and by December or January time I had got back in the team and ended up finishing the season as top goalscorer. This season it’s whether I can keep the other strikers out of the team and have a good run of form and score goals. And as well as Celtic there are qualifiers coming up for Scotland that I want to be involved in, too.
“I’m feeling fit and ready to go. I know John Collins [assistant manager] and the gaffer speak highly of me now because I’ve turned myself around. That’s the way I want to keep going. I want them to be praising me rather than being negative about me in the papers like it was at the start of last season. It’s a new season now and a new start.”
Ciftci’s arrival from Dundee United means Griffiths won’t have it all his own way, but he believes he can take advantage of the Turk’s enforced absences to nail down his place.
“Nadir did well at United last season and I knew coming in that he was going to try to take my spot,” he said. “It is unfortunate he got hit with a ban but it gives me a chance to get a kick start to the season and hopefully get a few goals behind me so when he comes back from the ban I am still in the starting XI. The manager has said he will sometimes be looking to play both of us so you never know when he might spring that upon us. If he does, it will be good.”
Regardless of who he starts on Wednesday night, Deila knows the tie is far from over. Qarabag created little of note in the first game at Celtic Park but will be a different proposition at home.
“They play a bit like Barcelona,” said the manager. “They pass a lot. But their penetration wasn’t quite there on Wednesday night. Of course, they have to attack us much more in this game.
“We need to be ready for their movement. They didn’t get that at Celtic Park because they didn’t get to the final third. They will also push their full backs further forward. It’ll open up and I expect a difficult game. But the spaces will be bigger when we attack over there. First and foremost, we need to defend well. That’s the most important thing because we know we’ll get chances to score.”
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