James McPake has praised Leigh Griffiths’ contribution since arriving on loan at Dundee from Celtic. Griffiths left in a season-long loan deal as he looks to reboot his career after a few years of stalling in Glasgow’s East End.
Griffiths scored in a bounce game against Hearts and McPake told The Sun that he was enjoying working with the 31-year-old striker.
“He is scoring a lot of goals on the training pitch, that is a given.
“In the bounce game he got a goal which wasn’t a surprise, it was his first touch.
“I am enjoying working with him. I only knew him as a player in the same team and now coaching him I see how he has developed his game, which is excellent.’
Photo: Jane Barlow
McPake also pointed to the progress of Griffiths as a player from the clinical finisher at Celtic to a more well-rounded attacker. The Dens Park boss cites the influences of Rodgers, Lennon and Strachan as part of the reason he has improved.
“You don’t have the career he has had without learning. He has worked with people like Brendan Rodgers, Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon, some really good managers and all those managers have made him a more rounded player.
“At Hibs he was just a really serious goalscorer, a good player, but now I think he can take the ball in and do a lot more than when at Hibs when there were parts of his game he needed to develop.
“He has developed them and that’s why he has played for his country and won so many titles at Celtic. It is good working with him and seeing that.”
The player, who scored 123 goals for Celtic, will know that it is extremely unlikely that he will return to Parkhead but he can at least play football at Dundee. He has been offered a number of chances in recent times but fitness issues have left him struggling for game time. The sideshow regarding his Instagram amplified concerns about whether Griffiths would take Celtic battle for the league seriously sparking a loan move just weeks after the decision to offer him an extension. This decision appears to have backfired but Griffiths will be able to work away from afar.
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