I’m going to say it; Leigh Griffiths is the best Celtic striker since The King of Kings. He’s also one of the best Celtic strikers of the past 20 years.
In the course of this game we saw him shoot with the left foot, the right foot, try a diving header and score a goal the Swedish sensation himself would have been copiously lauded for.
His goal, after a Gary Mackay Steven cross, was exquisite.
Facing away from goal, he controlled it on his foot, turned and volleyed it past the keeper. It was a wonderful moment from a player who has carried this team on his shoulders at times this season, and popped up here, just before the half-time break, to break the little pocket of tension around the ground.
This was a better game than many had thought.
Thistle fought well and we made some of our characteristic mistakes, such as in our poor ball retention and passing during much of that first half. Mikael Lustig, in particular, looks like a man who would benefit from a challenger, instead of being able to simply walk into the team every week.
It’s that kind of competition that has benefited Gary Mackay Steven, Sky’s Man of the Match, who knows Patrick Roberts and Christie are breathing down his neck and has responded accordingly, with much improved performances in recent months.
Today he was very solid, with an assist in a great display, and although Roberts would have been almost every Celtic fan’s choice before the game, the former Dundee Utd player didn’t let us down. Neither did Callum McGregor, on the other wing, who scored a fantastic goal to make it 2-0.
Everyone knows I think Eric Sviatchenko is a quality player.
Which is why decisions like the one that went against him with five minutes to go will happen more and more. It wasn’t a penalty, and it certainly wasn’t a booking, but he’s a player under serious pressure from refs already.
The weakest player, for me, on the day was actually the captain Scott Brown, who gave the ball away with painful regularity. He’s clearly still not fit; I’d like to see him benched for a couple of weeks, for his own good as much as anything else.
We need this guy for bigger games between now and the end of the season; he ought not to be in the team if not fully fit.
Those (at Ibrox) who complained bitterly in the last few days (don’t they always?) about Kieran Tierney being in the Scotland squad were answered in spades by another excellent performance from the young left back. One of the criticisms of Ronny’s team is that the high pressing game we were promised hasn’t come to pass. But Tierney did that today and more. He dug in went for every 50/50 ball and a lot of 60/40 ones too. He won them all.
On top of that, he can pass a ball and cross a ball and therefore he’s always an asset going forward. What a fantastic footballer he has become in a short time.
That was more like it. The end was more uncomfortable than we’d have liked but that wasn’t a consequence of bad performances but was due to another sterling decision from The Brotherhood. We’re going to keep an eye on that as much as anything in the run-in, because the bookings are piling up.
Overall a good day’s work, and characterised by another moment of magic from Leigh.