BRENDAN RODGERS last night insisted Leigh Griffiths will score goals no matter what position he plays in after the striker bagged a brace against Olimpija Lubljana.
The Celtic manager was full of praise for last season’s top scorer and the way he linked up with Moussa Dembele who made an impressive first appearance for the club in the 2-1 win in the Slovenian capital.
Griffiths played wide right, which has not always worked for him in the past, but he scored two superb goals and his boss believes that he will continue to do so even if Dembele is given the task of leading the line.
Rodgers said: “I was really pleased for Leigh Griffiths because I thought his two finishes were top class. He is a player that will score goals whatever position he plays.
“By bringing in more offensive threats, it will give him more freedom. His two strikes were top quality finishes and I thought he and Moussa combined well together.”
It was a good work out for Celtic against a team they could yet meet in Champions League qualifiers.
Rodgers said: “It was an important game for us. We got the chance to work on our fitness and look at a possible opponent in the qualification.
“I was pleased with the performance in terms of mentality and organisation as well as physically.
“Both teams are at an early stage of pre-season but I enjoyed the game.
“The players deserve a lot of credit. Most clubs at this time are just working on fitness. They are a couple of weeks in but have another three or four to go until they are up to speed, physically and tactically.
“These guys come straight in to massive qualifiers. Our mentality going in was to treat it like a qualifier because this time next week we will be in qualification.
“You can’t flip it like a light switch.
“You need that mindset. The fluency will come at a later stage. Right now you need organisation and mentality. These are factors that can help you when you are building and we saw that tonight
The Parkhead side will face Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar next Tuesday in their first Champions League match, which means there will be little downtime for the Celtic players who arrive back in Glasgow in the early hours of Sunday evening after their two-week stay in Slovenia.
“I was surprised that Lincoln are through if I'm honest,” said Rodgers. “From our reports, the Estonians (Flora Tallin) were the better side in the first leg.
"Our only issue is that it gives us a day less. If we'd been playing in Estonia, we'd have been on Wednesday night.
"Now the game is Tuesday and that's a quick turnaround. But we will deal with it and look forward to it. I haven't been told anything about the venue. I believe it will be in Gibraltar."
As for any signings coming in before the Friday deadline, which would allow them to play in the tie, Rodgers said: “We have a couple of items ongoing and if we can them done, then great. But we will see.”
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