IT is a truth universally acknowledged that the phrase “no story here” is guaranteed to pique the interest.

Brendan Rodgers, the Celtic manager, has insisted that there is nothing in Leigh Griffiths’ recent demotion to the Parkhead bench but given that the Scotland internationalist has fallen foul of Rodgers’ standards before, it seems only natural to query why the striker has found himself down the pecking order of late.

On-loan French teenager Odsonne Edouard has been the main beneficiary, netting a hat-trick against Motherwell and leading the line against Hibs this weekend.

Griffiths got off the bench only to warm-up forlornly in those two league games and it was the same story with the Champions League game against Anderlecht which was sandwiched in between.

Indeed, as the first-team squad came through the trackside mixed zone in the aftermath of that game against the Belgians, Griffiths and the rest of the Celtic substitutes were put through a brief training session on the park.

It was difficult to ignore the lackadaisical approach of the forward.

Rodgers issued a public rebuke to Griffiths last term when he felt the striker was not adhering to the lifestyle choices expected of the club but, ironically, there is perhaps a more ominous note to be sounded in Rodgers’ reluctance to discuss the situation publicly this time.

Asked how Griffiths had reacted to finding himself on the outside looking in, Rodgers remarked: “I don’t know. You would need to ask him. I can only speak about him if you speak about every single player that doesn’t play.

“I respect that he’s Scottish and I respect that he plays for Scotland but if you ask me about Leigh you have to ask why Moussa Dembele or Kristoffer Ajer isn’t playing.

“Or why Erik Sviatchenko isn’t playing. If you don’t want to ask me about them...

“There’s no story in it. I’m picking what I think is the best team. Odsonne is coming off a hat-trick against Motherwell where he was brilliant and performed well when he came into the team in the Champions league game.

“It’s about picking players in a good moment and it’s a long season. Leigh is a fantastic young striker for us and what I have now is three players who can contribute depending on what type of game I need to play.

“Moussa and Leigh have their qualities and Odsonne is a combination of both and I thought he did well against Hibs.”

In any case, if the weekend’s action at Easter Road showed anything it is that Celtic are invincible but perhaps not infallible.

Rodgers’ side protected their 68-game sequence of domestic games without defeat through a last-gasp hoof off the line from Swedish defender Mikael Lustig.

What was conspicuous, though, was the manner in which Celtic allowed a 2-0 lead to fritter through their fingers.

Notable because Celtic, in a domestic context, have been ruthless at avoiding such slippery, antsy moments of fragility. This term Celtic have now drawn five games – one more than they did throughout the entire course of last term – meaning that the Parkhead side have already lost more points at this stage than they had in the entirety of the previous campaign.

For Rodgers, though, the reasons for that can be attributed to the uniqueness of his inaugural season at the Parkhead club.

“I think it tells you that last season we had the best season in Scottish football history and they don’t happen all the time,” said the Celtic manager.