Scotland striker Leigh Griffiths probably doesn’t need much more incentive to break his goalscoring duck for his country, but shutting up his Celtic teammate and captain Scott Brown may just be the extra motivation he requires.
Griffiths faced the press yesterday, with his presence at Hampden seeming to suggest that he is in with a more than decent shout of leading the line against the Slovenians this evening.
Given his prolific form throughout his career, it is something of a surprise that the frontman has not yet found the net in the dark blue of Scotland in his 11 caps to date, although in his defence, just four of those have been from the start.
Unfortunately for Griffiths, his friend Brown is making no such concessions for him as he teases him relentlessly about their contrasting totals for the nation, with the midfielder’s four goals in 51 caps enough reason for him to lord it over Griffiths on a regular basis.
So it is little wonder that the striker is hoping he can tell Brown to put a sock in it tonight after sticking the ball in the Slovenian net.
“Broony keeps on teasing me about goals for Scotland and hopefully I can break my duck sooner rather than later,” Griffiths said.
“He’s been saying he’s scored more international goals than me which is not what I want to hear.
“You just have to bide your time and chances will come and then it’s a case of putting them in the net.
“If it’s tomorrow night I’ll be delighted, if not then hopefully I can do my bit to help the team get the win and move up the table.
“Everybody knows what’s at stake on Sunday. Striker is a prized possession and there are five of us going for it with only getting the nod.
“Whoever it is has to thank their lucky stars that the gaffer is going with them for a must-win game.”
His fleeting appearances for Scotland apart, Griffiths feels there may be another reason that he has found goals harder to come by when he plays for his country in contrast to the free-flowing nature of his scoring at club level – that he may simply be trying too hard.
“Obviously, every time you’re playing for Scotland you are trying to impress,” he said. “Maybe I am trying that bit too hard to break my duck and score my first Scotland goal.
“I think strikers are based on scoring goals. In international football it is different nowadays, you need to bring others into play.
“It’s kind of what you do with Celtic now because we play the exact same formation and my Celtic career is based on scoring goals.
“But with Scotland it’s a bit more different than that and I could take that kind of criticism because maybe I am trying that bit too hard. Maybe I just need to relax a bit more, try and focus on my own game rather than what other people are thinking.”
The similarity in formation and playing style may not be the only things that are familiar to Griffiths this evening if he is to start the game, with as many as six Celtic players set to be involved.
For Griffiths, given the success of Brendan Rodgers’s team this season, that may be something that can work in Scotland’s favour.
“That could be a good thing,” he said. “The boys picked for Scotland have been playing well, been playing regularly apart from myself. Everyone else deserves their call-up.
“It’s one of the reasons we are so far ahead in the league because these boys have been playing at the top of their game.
“Playing with these guys week in, week out they know your strengths and weaknesses. Playing with guys like Stuart [Armstrong], Craigie [Gordon], Scott [Brown], James [Forrest], Kieran [Tierney] are great players and it makes the game easier for me to try and do my bit at the top of the park by scoring goals.
“It would be great if we could all get game time. That’s the manager’s decision at the end of the day.”
And if not all of the Celtic players make the cut, then Griffiths is adamant that at least one man should – debutant Stuart Armstrong.
“Stuart has been one of our main players this season,” he said.
“We missed him when he was out injured for a little bit but he’s come back in, been on fire and showed that he deserves his call-up.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if he was in the running for Player of the Year the way he’s transformed his game from the start of the season to now has been fantastic.”
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