Scott Sinclair!

Brown was * 2 seasons ago too. Glad we never sold him and no way should we sell our top goal scorer either.

 

admittedly his form apparently "isnt great" but 17 goals and 16 assists say other wise but he does look short on confidence.

 

Far too slow, last season he would pick the ball up and sprint at the defenders, now he just dithers on the ball and jogs at them giving time for defenders to cover.

 

He was straight on top of the St.Johnstone mistake on the half-way line yesterday, ran directly and committed the defender then teed up Eddie for a great chance...only for him to fluff it.

Then later made a good run for Tierney, got to the by-line, played it right along the goal begging to be tapped in...only for all 3 of our players to run to the front post.

It wasn't vintage Sinclair yesterday but he certainly didn't play bad enough to warrant criticism. Had our misfiring strikeforce done their job then he would have had 2 assists.

 

Forgot about that break through but expect that from him anyway, just thought he never stretched their defence enough and that was also down to Edouard and Musonda am not just singling out Sinclair.

First half in particular he just kept cutting inside into traffic. Was also when he would take the ball and stop with it when there was a quick pass on then end up passing back to Miller.

That was a pin point pass by Tierney and the link up play we need between them, but for 90 mins against St.Johnstone I’d expect Sinclair to create a lot more.

 

I think the problem is teams have identified that our left wing last season was more effective than our right and have started doubling up on Sinclair. That should theoretically create more space on the pitch elsewhere but we're so ponderous on the ball that we're not exploiting it.

I've been critical of Sinclair at many points this season but yesterday I thought he played reasonably well enough in creating those 2 great chances.

 

Selling our top goalscorer and top assister

 

Considering how the game went yesterday, he did well.

People talking about selling don’t understand just how good we’ve got it right now.

 

Should never EVER be sold! Regardless of stats the guys been poor this year, however there is a brilliant player there and he is just lacking confidence, the old Scott sinclair can re appear he just needs that boost!

 

Lack of runs through the middle, such as the one vs Hapoel for rogics goal, seems to just pick up the ball on the wing and then play the easy way out, would like to see him making runs through and trying to be more direct on the ball

 

Early in 2nd half he ran full pelt towards their goal. I had forgotten what it was like to see him move with the ball. He just stands there now shifting his feet til dispossessed. Last year him and KT had a great understanding. This year it all needs an extra touch or 2 to make the pass.

Hope he gets back to best. Never recovered after the sevco miss in december

 

Replace him with whom?

 

I've been critical of Sinclair this season but saying we should be selling him is a complete overreaction.

 

Since the start of 2018, he's started 4 out of our 7 matches in which he has scored a couple of goals. He's still contributing. Teams are doubling up on him, dragging their team wide left, which is allowing Forrest more space on the right wing. He's our top scorer this season with assists in the mid teens. Any idea of selling Sinclair must be answered with who replaces him next season...Johnny Hayes? Patrick Roberts will most likely not be coming back. He's a quality midfielder who was very important in our champions league qualification.

 

I think the comments Southgate made about not picking him for the England team have really affected him tbh, think Southgate mentioned it after Anderlecht away and Sinclair has been nowhere near his best since, think he just has to accept his chances of a call up are a pipe dream and focus on club football.

 

John Fleck.

 

Probably mere coincidence, but Sinclair changed his game a little where he doesn't take on his man as much and tries to cut inside even more than usual.

Yet this season we seeing a resurgent Forrest, who really hasn't changed a single bit of his game, he's always run at his man and tried to be direct, would be nice if Celtic as a whole could go back to that.

Easier said then done of course. We could really do with Sinclair being the pacey electric winger who mixes up going to the byline or cutting inside like last season a bit more

 

Of course he shouldn't be sold but he needs to up his game.

 

The fact Rodgers has dropped him for big games recently, Scotty will know he needs to do more to warrant a starting place. It's difficult to criticize someone who contributes so many goals but it's plain to see he's not at the level of last season (although it can be said about more than him).

Be interesting to see if he plays on Thursday.