BRENDAN Rodgers last night told Leigh Griffiths he could have no complains about his Scotland snub.

And Celtic’s manager warned the striker that unless he improved all aspects of his game that he would continue to play second fiddle to Odsonne Edouard who will start against Rosenborg tonight in the Europa League.

Griffiths, who signed a long term deal with the Scottish champions last week, was angry about being dropped for Steven Naismith for the Albania game and then that Alex McLeish suggested the Hearts man would begin the next game in Israel.

But Rodgers made it plain that Griffiths had more to do before he could be considered first choice for club or country.

The Celtic manager said: “I was at the Albania game and Steven Naismith, I thought, was excellent. He worked his socks off and got us two goals – you can’t complain with that.

“Leigh knows his qualities but he has to, at this stage of his career, work tirelessly at all aspects of his game. “The role of strikers is changing. If you look at the evolution of strikers, it is not just about scoring goals any more, you have to do more than that.

“I think he’s great to have in our squad, that’s why we wanted to give him another deal. He’s an important member of the squad. We know he can score goals. But, like I say, at top teams it’s about more than that.

“But it’s something he’ll continue to work hard on, that side of his game. That will always improve his chances domestically and, of course, also at international level.”

Rodgers’s plan was for Moussa Dembele and Edouard to form a partnership, which of course lasted only a few games.

A problem for Rodgers, and in turn Griffiths, is the manager cannot see his only two senior strikers at the club linking up as a duo.

“I am not sure,” was Rodgers reply to whether the two were compatible. “Certain types can play with one another.

“But it is not necessary that you play with two strikers – we scored 106 goals and created a record on the back end of playing with three, one up and two wide.

“It is also up to us to find solutions to teams sitting a lot deeper. Closing the space, denying the space and then you see St Mirren last week, even with 11 v 10 we had the dominance with the ball. That is up to us.

“We have to impose our way and if a team sits deeper then we find a way with the personnel that we have. Thus far we have been okay but we want to be better.”

Celtic are without defenders Kristoffer Ajer and Jozo Simunovic for tonight’s match with the a familiar opponent in Rosenborg.

Rodgers said: “We want to be in Europe after Christmas. It is good games for us, a good group, so you want to be winning your home games then see what you can get away from home.

“There are top class teams in the Europa League. We haven’t been in this competition for a couple of years - but we are not entitled to be in the Champions League team.

Celtic knocked the Norwegian club out of the Champions League qualifiers last month with a 3-1 aggregate success, before themselves losing out to AEK Athens in the next round.

Looking forward to a group that also includes Salzburg and RB Leipzig, Rodgers said: "There is always excitement going into the European competitions and this is no different. It is a real good group we are in.

"The dynamics are slightly different in terms of playing Rosenborg. Previously it has been knock-out and maybe the first leg has been a little bit cagey. But still the difficulty of the game is still there.

"Rosenborg come into the game in really good form since we last played. We expect a tough game, we are playing at home and like any other games against them we really want to show our quality in the game.

"We prepare well. They are a good team. We respect their qualities but we want to bring our game, our energy and quality and hopefully look to start the group with three points."

The former Swansea and Liverpool manager has no residual disappointment from failing to reach the Champions League, after making it to the group stage in the last two years.

Rodgers said: "It's where we deserved to be. We are not entitled to be in the Champions League. We didn't qualify, it is as simple as that.

"So we arrived in the competition that we deserve to be in and we respect that and it is our duty to go and get as far as we can."