Pundit Andy Cameron has recently defended Leigh Griffiths and has spoken about his situation at Celtic right now.
Cameron was a guest on the latest episode of ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed many issues surrounding the Parkhead outfit. One topic of discussion was Griffiths. Cameron defended the striker and the recent controversies that have surrounded him.
During the club’s pre-season training, Griffiths turned up overweight and as a result, he was left behind when the club left for France to play their pre-season friendlies. More recently, images of him hosting a party emerged on social media and he was ‘reminded of his responsibilities’.
When talking about Griffiths, Cameron defended the striker and the pictures published in the media as he tipped the Scotsman to feature against KR Reykjavik in Celtic’s UEFA Champions League qualifying first-round game on Tuesday.
Cameron said: “He’s the guy who came in, in January, and transformed the way we play up front. Let’s put it in black and white, here. Leigh Griffiths was told ‘you’re not fit enough’, right? However, my understanding of the whole science of football now – that just means that he might not have made the BMI index [and] therefore had to stay back.
Would you defend Leigh Griffiths' actions?
Never, he did the wrong things
Yes, I'd defend him
“Neil Lennon came out and slaughtered him for not being fit. But Neil Lennon is the same guy who, a fortnight later, when he played in the friendly, says ‘he’s flying’. The other thing that we saw recently on social media was [that] Leigh Griffiths threw a party for his girlfriend for her birthday. Everybody’s up in arms because he’s broken [the rules].
“Nobody knows the facts of that. I may be sounding like I’m flying the flag for him, but he’s in his own house. There might have been only three families in the house. The picture you see is him and his girlfriend. The other picture’s his girlfriend with three other females.
“He may well not [have] gone out of the rules, but because it’s Leigh Griffiths, The Sun splash the story, all of a sudden we’re all of a camp that Leigh Griffiths is finished, I don’t agree – I think we play him on Tuesday and get him [to] start scoring goals again.”
TIF Thoughts…
Lennon initially publicly criticised Griffiths when he was overweight, but then he praised him when the striker played in a pre-season friendly. This shows that the issue of being overweight has probably been solved by Griffiths.
He was crucial for Celtic in the second half of the 2019/20 Premiership season and found the back of the net seven times and even racked up three assists during that time. This shows how important a player he can be when in form and if he gets himself back in the first-team fold, his goals can prove important for the Hoops in the 2020/21 season.