Kenny Miller suggests Celtic’s Leigh Griffiths should lead the line for Scotland

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Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths missed Scotland’s recent Euro 2020 qualifiers as he slowly works his way back into action following a long lay-off.

Kenny Miller has claimed that Celtic striker Leigh Griffiths is ‘the one’ to lead the line for Scotland after he missed Steve Clarke’s recent squad because he is still working his way back into action.

The 29-year-old has played eight games in all competitions for Celtic this season, scoring three goals and supplying his teammates with one assist [transfermarkt], as he is still to produce his best form.

Whilst Griffiths won’t solve all of Scotland’s problems, he can add more quality to their forward line as Sheffield United striker Oli McBurnie and West Brom’s Matt Phillips led the line during the previous two matches.

Speaking to Sportsround on BBC Radio Scotland (11/09/2019), Miller believes that Griffiths is best suited to leading the line for his country out of all the possible candidates.

“We need a number nine,” Miller told Sportsround. “A number nine that’s really going to nail down that slot. Oli McBurnie’s not done it yet. Will he do it in terms of his international career?

“Leigh Griffiths is the one for me. I was in his first couple of squads and he was raw. We always talked about the goals that he got and he always scored goals. But his game has improved in the last four, five years.

“That England performance, is it two years ago now? Forget his goals, his performance that day was absolutely excellent. The workrate was there, which might not have been there, three or four years before it. His link-up play was far better. His all-round game is perhaps best suited to being in that Scotland number nine and he had the jersey.”

Odsonne Edouard’s form at club level will not help Griffiths’ chances of earning regular game time at Parkhead, but given the number of games that Celtic are set to play in these coming weeks and months, it’s enough for him to showcase his true worth.

Scotland fans will remember Griffiths brace against England, which included two stunning free-kicks late on in the game, only for Harry Kane to equalise in stoppage-time.

Nonetheless, Griffiths is now set to play an important role on both club and international level because if he gets going then he’ll start scoring on a regular basis.