Scott Sinclair!

* *..

 

He even hid when we were playing well.

 

One of his chances (the Boyatta header) he chickened out of the rebound with Blue Cafu ...had he put his foot through the ball it's a goal ...completely * it.

 

He shat it several times yesterday.

Though he was wearing a brace on his knee. I wonder if that had an effect.

 

Visibly shat it too many times for my liking..

Unacceptable. Don't care who it is..

 

AS Celtic take up a well-earned rest during the winter break, Scott Sinclair and his team-mates have the opportunity to briefly pause and reflect on what has been a truly historic year for the six-in-a-row champions before resuming their quest for a second successive treble.

It was a busy year for Brendan Rodgers’ side who played a remarkable 61 competitive games in the 2017 calendar year. After rounding off the year with just one domestic loss, the squad were given a week off before beginning their warm-weather training camp in Dubai.

By the summer, Brendan Rodgers’ Celts completed the fourth treble of the club’s history and did so without tasting a single defeat. They then qualified for the Champions League group stages for the second successive season and lifted their fourth trophy after defeating Motherwell in the League Cup final.

Such accomplishments are intangible dreams for many professional footballers but Sinclair and his team-mates brought them to life in 2017 and now have the chance to look back on what they have accomplished.

“It’s been a good year,” said Sinclair in an exclusive interview with this week's Celtic View. “We’ve been playing well and winning in style. There were some disappointments here and there, such as the unbeaten run coming to an end. But our main priority is winning trophies and in that respect we couldn’t have accomplished more, so we can take pride in that.

“When we started this journey 18 months ago, we never set out to be unbeaten. That wasn’t our focus. We set ourselves targets and we worked towards them gradually while ensuring our focus was always on our current opponent.

“To achieve that and to do it without being defeated is something we can all be really proud of. We surpassed a record which has been untouched for 100 years. That’s amazing and it’s something we can cherish.”

Sinclair and his team-mates surpassed the 62-game unbeaten run set by Willie Maley’s Celtic side and cemented a new record of 69 games. The feat may never be repeated again and now that it has been recorded in the history books, the team is hungry to win every game.

“During the unbeaten run we drew some games that we should have won,” admitted Sinclair. “The significance of the record meant that those kind of games were looked at in terms of us still being unbeaten. That doesn’t satisfy the desire of this team, though, as we want to win every match.

“Now that the record is set, if we get a draw against a team we should be beating we’re disappointed and it feels like a loss. Moving forward, we feel like we’re getting back to how things were before in winning games and picking up points by dominating games.”

 

Maybe it more to do with him being our biggest threat for goals for a while and he is being marked a lot tighter ,the goals aren't coming from all areas like before .

 

Teams always double up on him.

 

Still our biggest threat going forward, if he's in form we are dangerous. Needs a big game against Zenit to boost confidence I reckon.

 

Really want to see this runs he was making last season again, on and off the ball. He’s running in to trouble all too often this season, when last year it felt he was unstoppable.

The stats don’t lie, he’s still one of our best performers but the same intelligence in how he takes guys on isn’t there just now.

 

HE might not be playing his best but he is certainly giving it.

That is good enough for Brendan Rodgers where Scott Sinclair is concerned.

The Celtic star has struggled to hit the form he enjoyed throughout last season.

As the country’s Player of the Year, Sinclair was sensational and lived up to the expectations of a £4million player in his debut season in Paradise.

There is no doubt his standards have dropped this term.

Maybe one of the biggest reasons for that is the fact that opposition teams now double up on him defensively.

But Hoops boss Rodgers points to the facts and figures he gets from the former Manchester City man and is happy enough with his contribution.

More than that, though, he is happy in the knowledge that conscientious Sinclair is grafting as hard as he has ever done for him.

Speaking from the club’s mid-winter base in Dubai, Rodgers said: “Let me tell you that Scotty has scored 15 goals and had 12 assists.

“If you actually look at it, we’ve got James Forrest who has been absolutely brilliant for us this season — maybe Player of the Year — and he’s got 12 goals.

“The guy on the other side, who is supposedly having a disastrous season, has scored 15 and created 12.

“Again, maybe it’s about the level people expect Scotty to be at. But he’s contributing.

“His job is to press the game defensively, to work hard up and down the line, and to create goals and score goals.

“Is he doing that? Yes he is.

“You can maybe ask if he’s being marked tighter with the space blocked out a bit more. He’s maybe missing chances too.

“But he’s still a real valuable asset for us and he’ll be fresh and ready for the second part of the season.

“Could he explode in the second half of the season? He’ll do his best. That’s what I know I’ll get from him. He just had such an incredible first season but I expect him to do something similar this season.

“He has contributed very importantly for us. He has been fantastic.”

End product is the key thing for any attacking player so it is maybe not surprising that Rodgers is happy to point to Sinclair’s stats.

He added: “There aren’t many wingers who give you the end product Scotty gives the team.

“You think of last season and then this season, it’s incredible really.

“He is virtually a striker playing in from the side.

“But he’s been absolutely great for us. Like I say, he’s only human. Sometimes he won’t be at his best but what I know is he always gives his best.

“There are times when he’ll come off in a game because I’m having to change it and look at something else.

“But in terms of what he’s asked to do for the team — create and score goals — he can’t do any more.”

The problem Rodgers has in general is maintaining the standards his team have set. They have dominated Scottish football from the minute he arrived as Ronny Deila’s replacement.

From a domestic Treble last season to a long, historic unbeaten domestic run, Rodgers could not have asked for any more.

The manager has wrung every ounce of effort possible from his players.

It has not always been easy and there is little doubt Celtic were running on empty before the end of the year.

But they have just had a good week training and relaxing in Dubai and will be refreshed for the second half of the campaign.

That must be a daunting prospect for the rest of the teams in the country.

Maintaining their standards, though, is the key for Celtic, although Rodgers insists it is asking way too much to expect his side to go on a long unbeaten run again like their last one.

If you are talking realistically then that is just not going to happen.

Rodgers said: “It’s impossible. I don’t think you can, that is why it was a one-off, historical season.

“But I still think we’ve been very good. There have been some brilliant performances this year.

“And to cope with the games that we’ve had has been great.

“It’s not just the games, remember, but the pressures that come with them. What the games do to the players physically and mentally.

“That’s why I have such an admiration for the group itself.

“We put things in place to try and cope with disappointments along the way but the players have been absolutely superb in terms of dealing with that.

“No one can really imagine the pressure a player is under.

“When you play in the Champions League it’s six big games but we also had big qualifiers.

“Domestically teams are after you too. But to be eight points clear, doing what they’ve done, has been great.”

 

Looks like he was close to Regis. A tough day id imagine as he probably became even closer to him after what he's had to deal with up here recently

 

Cyrille Regis was also Scott Sinclair’s agent, and speaking exclusively to the Celtic View, the Hoops winger paid tribute to Cyrille, describing him as a mentor and friend.

“He was a massive influence,” said the 28-year-old. “He was my agent ever since I was a 16, when I signed for Chelsea. He was there every step of the way with me.

“When I was a young player, he gave me good advice about all the things he had been through, and he has passed that on to me and all the other players he looked after.

“He was still in contact with me and I met him before Christmas. He came up and watched the second last game before the winter break and we met at the hotel and had a general chat.

“It was devastating news and so sad to hear, especially when you have known someone so long and are close to them and, in particular, it’s a really sad time for his family.”

 

Thought Scotty's bouffant looked particularly resplendent today.

 

* it, I’ll say it, his barnet is awful!

 

Breaks done him good , back at it again tonight.