A good home victory in the Scottish Premiership and Celtic collect all three points in what many would have considered a grudge match. Celtic faced Ross County tonight and after the pressure of the Quadruple Treble no longer on the players shoulders I was looking forward to a more flowing game of football tonight. And Celtic duly delivered but although we still need a solid back line, I would also be concerned that we are not putting teams away quicker.
Against Hearts in the Scottish Cup final Celtic had twenty shots with only seven on target and if we took our opportunities in the first half the game would have been out of sight for the Jambos and against County, twenty five shots at goal, again with only seven on target in a game that again should have been well out of sight.
A lot has been made of the defensive issue’s but a second league clean sheet should be seen as a sign of progress (and I am by no means saying our defensive issues are solved), but imagine if we had took our first half chances against Hearts on Sunday, how would the result have looked then. I believe if Griffiths was on earlier in that match then the game would not have went to penalties.
Griffiths showed his value to the team with a cute, deft header to put the Hoops 2-0 up and he should start getting more game time in a front two. Celtic’s next two matches are against Hamilton on Boxing Day at New Douglas Park and then back at home against a very good Dundee Utd side who are sitting pretty in fifth place.
Griffiths MUST start both these games but the next question should be, “Who partners HIM”, as Edouard draws another blank today. Could the pace and power of Klimala compliment the finesse and finishing prowess of Griffiths? Or will Edouard continue up front to try and recapture the partnership form the two struck up in the second half of last season?