LEIGH GRIFFITHS

THERE’S just something about Griffiths. He is effervescent, he’s infectious and he brings people to life.

He’s also under-rated but I bet his team-mates rate him.

Griffiths can win games on his own and it is insulting when critics say he is just an SPFL player. Sure, he just about won Ronny Deila a title on his own but he has scored goals in the Champions League, crucial strikes in the qualifiers and has made the Scotland shirt his own.

The left peg is lethal. Whether it is from dead balls or open play, he can finish from just about anywhere. Griffiths’ prowess in the air is also something which goes unnoticed. He’s pretty good at finishing with his head.

I also like his running power and threat. He’ll turn defenders by playing on their shoulders, get them on the back foot.

Griffiths has the game intelligence to run channels and pull defenders into spaces they don’t want to be, opening spaces for others. His all-round game is improving all the time.

He can be greedy on occasions when team-mates are in a better position. That, though, is being ultra critical.

Griffiths might be a bit of a loose cannon in some ways. He might do daft things like moan at the manager when he is subbed or tie scarves to goalposts when he really shouldn’t but that’s his character. In many ways, it’s what makes him the striker he is.

He is gallus and has a swagger. Griffiths thinks he’s going to score every time he goes on to the pitch and it doesn’t matter who he is playing. It’s a good attitude for a striker to have.

Griffiths is different in size and stature from Dembele but has the same presence.

When they are on the pitch and I watch them, I always feel something is going to happen. I just can’t split them.