Boss hails his ‘anarchic’ gem Leigh Griffiths

Aug 14 2008 by Eric MacKinnon, West Lothian Courier

ROBERTO Landi reckons he has anarchy at Almondvale but the Livingston boss loves it.

Landi was delighted to see Kid Goals Leigh Griffiths’ fourth strike of an impressive season slay Forfar, but he reckons the teenager’s game is ‘anarchic.’

However, Landi he insists he wouldn’t change his prize asset and has tipped him for a big future in football.

“Griffiths is an anarchic player,” he said.

“He is a very good player and I like him a lot but he plays alone and separate from the team. I need the team to support him and they do.

“Jean Cuenca hasn’t scored any goals for us yet but he works very hard for the team and for Griffiths.

“He is only 17 and very young but if he wants to improve he has to try and play for the team a bit more. He sometimes tries too much, such as dribbling past three or four defenders, but that’s him.

“There are many players like this, such as Filipo Inzaghi or Pavel Nedved who play alone and they are superstars. I think Griffiths has a big future in football.”

Landi has tightened up the Livi rearguard as the Lions have kept clean sheets in three of the first five games of the season.

But key stopper Dave Mackay and skipper James McPake have been subject to bids from the SPL and Landi admits there is interest in them.

“McPake and Mackay are both still our players and I’m very happy to have them.

“But I don’t know what will happen if the chairman gets a very big offer for them.

“Everyone has a price at the end of the day and although Milan don’t want to sell Kaka they will do so if Chelsea make them a £100m offer.

“Until now there hasn’t been a suitable offer for either of them and I’m delighted to have them.”

The Almondvale boss has also revealed that striker Raffalle De Vita will be missing for several weeks. He undergoes a knee operation later this month, while Alejandro Caiaffa is also crocked, by an achilles injury.

However, other new signings Alfonso Nano and Fernando Giarrizzo are ready to play on Saturday while Rocco Quinn could also start.