Griffiths back in the old routine – almost
Leigh Griffiths made his first appearance at Celtic Park in months following personal issues last season. It was almost a scoring return, but not quite as the Hoops drew 0-0 with Rennes.
See Pages 2 & 3
Leigh Griffiths and Christopher Jullien are both in contention to feature in Wednesday night’s Champions League return against Sarajevo.
The pair, one an old favourite, the other a £7 million new signing with all the makings of a future star turn, acquitted themselves well in the Glasgow sunshine to give fans and their coaches alike something to smile about after this flattest of friendlies.
“I’m delighted for Leigh and, with Bayo still out injured, he will definitely be in our thoughts for Wednesday,” said Celtic assistant manager John Kennedy.
“When you go into these games you ask ‘can they show themselves?’
“Leigh’s done really well in preseason, he’s trained every minute of every session which was a challenge for him after a period out, but he got through the hardest part. Now we are starting to see more of what he’s all about – he’s playing off the shoulder, looking sharp and pressing.
“Jullien arrived late in camp as well, so, for him, it is about getting the fitness and the sharpness back. He is a big guy and takes a bit of time to get
going when his fitness is down, but, in terms of where he was when he came in and where he is now, we are seeing a big difference in his moving and his fitness levels and his sharpness.
“We will keep working on that, but he has a game under his belt now and he also comes into contention for during the week.”
The off-field struggles of Griffiths last season have been well documented, but he did, indeed, looked sharp as he darted into spaces looking to carve an opportunity.
He nearly got one himself
when Scott Sinclair’s through ball allowed Ewan Henderson to burst through the lines. The midfielder’s shot was welldirected and powerful, but Rennes keeper Tomas Koubek dived low to parry it.
The French visitors weren’t too shabby and they went close too, though, with striker Jordan Siebatchu flashing a near post header over from Clement Grenier’s corner.
Nir Bitton, who took a knock, was replaced by Steve Welsh at the interval and there was a tactical Celtic change, too, with Calum Mcgregor taking both the captain’s armband and a controlling role in midfield from Scott Brown.
Rennes changed their entire side at the break and, on the hour mark, Celtic’s Kris Ajer, Ryan Christie and Conor Hazard were sent on and the trio of Gordon, Luca Connell and the impressively imposing Jullien recalled to the bench.
Hazard was quickly into action, blocking a piledriver from Lucas Da Cunha.
Scott Sinclair then grabbed the attention with a dramatic goalline miss from Henderson’s cross when it looked easier to score. Odsonne Edouard then had a lob cleared off the line, but that was it as far as the excitement was concerned.
The game wasn’t underwhelming for everyone, with Lewis Morgan delighted to be back playing at Celtic Park after his six months away at Sunderland on loan.
“To come back and play in an arena like this was something I was itching to do,” said the 22-year-old Scot.
“These are the moments you look forward to, coming back to play at Celtic Park, and, hopefully, I did well enough to put myself in the manager’s thoughts.
“He has said to me that he knows what type of player I am, and he wants me to be direct and get fans off their seats.”
Meanwhile, Kennedy said there had been no movement in Celtic’s efforts to get 16-year-old Liam Morrison on a professional contract. The centre-half has been linked with a move to Bayern Munich.