Leigh Griffiths: Hearts Breaker

Tonight, the trouble began even before the game kicked off, with Brown and Gary Mackay Steven picking up injuries during the warm-up.

Our luck really is the pits at times.

Before the match, I had hoped to see Forrest in the starting line-up. I never wanted him in the team like this.

He was drafted for the captain, while Mackay Steven’s place on the bench was assumed by McGregor.

The first half went exactly as expected; Hearts put as many men as possible behind the ball, limiting their own chances but restricting us to a handful of shots from distance.

We are so predictable, and that makes the sides who we play against predictable too, to a certain extent.

When we’re the favourites we tend to get a lot of time on the ball. When the opposition has decent players they try to take advantage of our chronic lack of pace.

This is definitely down to our tactics.

How the Hell can you expect to penetrate a packed defence with a single striker?

If he’s marked properly – and Griffiths was for the first 45 – then you’re huffing and puffing.

We did a lot of huffing and puffing before the break.

It’s frustrating, being able to call this in advance and knowing the manager must be watching the same things as you but can’t see it.

I suppose you have to be inside this to be so blind to it, but I cannot fathom how he could have thought this was working.

We lacked urgency; it was as if the players thought they had all the time in the world. Jim Craig, commentating, suggested that it was the absence of Brown that slowed our game to a crawl. I would suggest that it’s simply the Ronny Deila playing style.

I understand it in a sense. You go up against a packed defence, you want to try and drag players out of position. So the slow-build up can work.

The ideas aren’t all wrong. The execution of them can be turgid and awful.

For all that, we never looked in any real danger either.

Hearts barely put up a fight, which is pretty desperate considering they’re the home side.

One thing had beeped on the warning radar during the first half; a booking for Nir Bitton, followed by a challenge for which the ref had given a free kick against him.

You got the impression he would be riding his luck if he made another.

The second half opened with Hearts the better team, pressing forward as Neilson had obviously decided the time was right for trying to take us on.

They had the ball in the net too, but it was judged to be offside, and rightly so.

In fact, Hearts players strayed offside all the way through the second half, something that will have driven Neilson mad.

Then, Bitton made another challenge.

It seemed innocuous, but it had every Celtic fan’s heart in his or her mouth.

When, a few minutes later, the team got ready to make a substitution I don’t think one of us thought the Israeli would stay on the park.

But he did, and to me it seemed like a mad gamble.

Rogic, who I’d thought might start the game, came on for Forrest, who wasn’t supposed to.

That was the moment that turned the match.

From that minute on we played far more direct football, moved the ball faster and posed the greater threat.

The Australian was simply excellent, giving us the drive we’d lack in the first 45.

Credit to the manager for spotting the difference he could make.

Then Leigh Griffiths sprang. Tired of waiting for the perfect delivery, perhaps, he took the Hearts defence on himself, weaving through three players before shooting into the far corner.

It was a superb piece of football, and an excellent finish.

He then helped seal the deal with another weaving run through the defence, and a cut across goal that the Australian Rogic cheekily back-heeled into the net.

In the last minute of the match we conceded one of our customary corner kick goals – we really do need to sort that out, and right away – but on the night we were the better team and in the second half, after Rogic came on, most definitely so.

No complaints after that one, and the first big test of three passed.

The manager gets pass marks tonight. He made some gutsy calls; keeping on Bitton, as I said, looked awfully risk but he clearly didn’t want to sacrifice our best holding midfield player in a game where we would need physical presence in the middle of the park. Bringing on Rogic, and playing him where he did, was excellent.

I’m torn between giving Griffiths the man of the match accolade, when it was Tom Rogic who absolutely turned the game, but a goal and an assist makes a difference and a half and the former Hibby deserves all the praise that’s coming to him.

So Leigh Griffiths, for me, was the stand out.

Overall, this was a good night’s work.

The treble is still on, people!

Onward to the weekend.