Man to rely on: Griffiths shows his delight after putting Celtic two goals to the good at Dens Park
Griffiths serves up reminder to Rodgers over striker’s role as Dembele exit looms
ANY striker worth their salt always appreciates the importance of good timing. In more ways than one yesterday, Leigh Griffiths could consider his to have been impeccable.
Taking Olivier Ntcham’s sliderule pass in his stride in the box just before the interval, the Scot put his hammer of a left foot through the ball to confirm a third straight win for Brendan Rodgers’ side in customary fashion.
As he wheeled away to celebrate, he pointed to his jersey and mouthed the words ‘I’m the man’. The significance of the moment was lost on no one.
Aside from the visit of Rangers on Saturday, Moussa Dembele’s departure from the club next month looks increasingly likely. Should it get across the line, it will do much for Celtic’s coffers but will unquestionably diminish the overall quality of the squad.
Yet, with Griffiths as ravenous and as sharp as he was at Dens Park, the club is unlikely to sink into a black hole overnight. Far from it, in fact.
For 18 months now, the Scot has struggled to clock up the game-time and, accordingly, the goals he’s been accustomed to. The presence of Dembele has had much to do with that.
The pair embraced on the touchline when swapping roles with 11 minutes of yesterday’s encounter remaining but you suspect Griffiths won’t be trading places with the Frenchman much longer.
With Brighton hot on his trail, the weekend derby might well be Dembele’s last hurrah in a Celtic shirt. Yet Griffiths has good reason to believe he is now the man in possession of the jersey. For all the mourning that will accompany the Frenchman’s likely departure, that’s no little comfort to Rodgers and the supporters.
This win added further ridicule to the theory that the recent thumping defeat at Tynecastle had somehow signalled the start of Celtic’s demise.
They were better value for the win here than the margin of victory suggests. Only the Rangers game now stands between Rodgers’ side and the sunshine of Dubai and there is nothing to suggest a punishing December schedule will take its toll by the weekend.
The only negative on a comfortable afternoon for Celtic was a nasty looking injury to Jonny Hayes. Contesting a loose ball with Josh Meekings midway through the first half, the Irishman lay stricken on the turf for fully five minutes before being stretchered off.
Having scored his first goal for Celtic against Aberdeen on Saturday, the timing was cruel. Mercifully, though, the early prognosis pointed towards bad bruising rather than a break. Meekings could not continue either but managed to walk off.
The incident took the shine off a Celtic display that, for 45 minutes at least, was every bit as good as Rodgers would have wished for.
They started like a side looking to get the job done with something to spare. The only wonder was it took them as long as nine minutes to get their noses in front.
It was a goal that summed up all Celtic were about yesterday; Tempo, touch and bewildering movement off the ball.
On a high after scoring his first Celtic goal against Aberdeen, Hayes seemed to be everywhere at the outset. It was his spin 30 yards from goal that brought Griffiths into the game.
Playing a dead-weight pass to his left, Kieran Tierney didn’t even have to break stride as he gathered the striker’s ball. The full-back’s cut-back was perfection. James Forrest slid the ball into the corner with Elliott Parish rooted to the spot.
Celtic might well already have been out of sight. Forrest had fired a foot past the upright in the opening two minutes before Callum McGregor struck the woodwork after being picked out by Mikael Lustig’s cut-back.
Forrest had one of those days where he could seemingly do no wrong. What a torrid time he gave Cammy Kerr.
One drop of the shoulder left the Dundee right-back floundering and Hayes rising to meet his cross. The Dubliner rose well but only succeeded in rippling the side-netting.
It was to prove Hayes’ last involvement of the game. Contesting a 50-50 with Meekings just inside the Dundee half, the dull thud of shin meeting shin sounded far from good. Hobbling off the park after treatment to be replaced by Darren O’Dea, Meekings would have appreciated that he was the lucky one.
The sight of Hayes departing on a stretcher and bound for Ninewells Hospital was desperate. Mikey Johnston was sprung from the bench but, as can often happen, it briefly winded Celtic.
Ntcham reminded his teammates there was a game still to be won with a shot that narrowly flew wide.
O’Dea’s wayward back-pass gave Griffiths an unwarranted opportunity. Parish did well to stand up and force the striker wide, even managing to win a goal-kick out of the situation.
But all remaining doubt as to who would be taking ownership of the three points was removed on 43 minutes. Neil McCann has vowed that his side won’t shy away from playing out from the back but there can occasionally be a price to pay for taking that stand. As his men attempted to work the ball from the back into midfield, Faissal El Bakhtaoui was sold short by Glen Kamara. Scott Brown interjected.
His simple pass allowed Ntcham to advance. Griffiths’ overlap was begging for the ball the Frenchman duly delivered. A meaty left-foot strike flashed past Parish. Job just about done.
Dundee’s hopes of salvaging anything plainly rested with getting the game’s third goal. O’Dea out-jumped Dedryck Boyata to claim Jon Aurtenetxe’s free-kick but his header floated over.
Sent clear by Scott Brown, Callum McGregor ought to have settled the issue but skied his strike into the stand.
The second period quickly came to resemble a training game. Rodgers’ men played keep-ball but Dundee just couldn’t fashion the one opportunity that might have given us an interesting finale. Ntcham fired one over the bar from 12 yards, Forrest’s mazy run ended with a shot just wide and the lively Johnston volleyed over after working a smart one-two with Forrest. But, by then, minds were already drifting towards the weekend.