Scott Sinclair!

awwe well done to them both

 

Shares same birthday as Me and now our baby daughters share the same name

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She had a tough pregnancy hopefully he can relax now and get back to his best

 

Why, why, why

 

Congratz to them both, well done

 

Congratulations to them both on the birth of their wee Glaswegian Celtic-born daughter

 

Good to hear Brendan say he's looking more focused/coming back to form. Looking forward to seeing him tear up the league again!

 

Master of all he surveys, Brendan Rodgers knew there were grounds for concern when he met up again with Scott Sinclair after the summer break 12 months ago.

A consummate professional who he knew inside-out from their time together at Chelsea and Swansea City, there was never any question of the winger having completely lost his way.

But there were subtle signs in that first pre-season training session at Lennoxtown that things were not quite as they should be. A slight lack of sharpness. A hint of fatigue. Confidence, accordingly, eroded.


By any stretch of the imagination, Sinclair's season was hardly disastrous. The scorer of 18 goals, he was still the club's top marksman.

Yet anyone seeking refuge in such a statistic was fooling no one. Bluntly, when faced with a raft of opponents, the Englishman was a shadow of the player he had been in Rodgers' first campaign.

Asked about the dip in form and his expectations of the player for the coming year earlier this week in Austria, Rodgers was candid. Insisting he sensed from the outset last summer that Sinclair may struggle to reach the same heights, he now predicts - with absolute certainty - that a different story is about to unfold.

Happily for the supporters who watched the £3.5million man tear up Scottish football in his first 12 months in a green and white shirt, the feeling is mutual.

'The work I have been putting in on the off-season is paying off and I have come back really sharp,' said the 29-year-old.

'Last year was a quick turnaround. We had two weeks off and we were straight back in. This year I have had a good break and managed to get in a lot of relaxation so I am ready to go again.'

Fatigue was certainly one factor. Sinclair, though, admits that the psychological burden of replicating the previous heights he'd scaled weighed heavily on his shoulders.


The level I set was so high and getting player of the year - I then tried to replicate that game after game,' he added.

'That is the pressure I have put on myself. Every single game I go into everyone expects two or three goals or me to get man of the match, but it is not always going to be the case.

'You want to keep the standard up. But whatever scenario unfolds I will keep giving 100 per cent. Hopefully, this can be an even better season for me again. I want to get back to that level and to show the fans the excitement of me playing again.

'I feel physically it is the best I have been, the way I have been working in pre-season. I feel fit and ready and excited about this season.'

If Celtic collectively were never going to replicate their legendary Invincibles campaign, it was also natural to assume that individual levels might also dip.

Sinclair isn't taking issue with anyone who pointed out that he was slightly out of sorts, but is within his rights to underscore the fact that he was scarcely posted missing.

'It's funny because when people speak about me they say I had a bad season, but I was the club's top goalscorer,' he smiled.

'If I had scored ten goals the first season, they would have been saying it was my best season.

'So, for me, it's not just about goals, it's about my contribution.

'For assists, I was up there as well so, for me, I just want to get back to that, enjoy my football and give 100 per cent.'

Sinclair probably didn't require a little heart-to-heart with Rodgers at the end of last season to remind him of the player he can be, but the words and advice his manager imparted were welcome all the same.

'He just told me to keep going and not to drop my head, because you want to play in finals and I want to play in every game. I think he knows that,' he said.

'Every game I go into I give 100 per cent, I want to play in them all, and he basically told me not to let my head drop and to keep going.'

Such was the air of despondency around him in periods of last season that suggestions abounded that he was unhappy in Glasgow to the point he was wanting to leave. He completely refutes that.

'I love the club,' he said. 'I love playing in front of 60,000 most weeks, and even when we are away the fans are amazing. I've got no reason to leave.

'We're settled here. We've been here for two years now, and we're happy living in Glasgow.'




Off the field, life could certainly not be any sweeter. Sinclair's wife, the Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan, gave birth to their second baby girl Delilah Ruby a fortnight ago. The latest addition has added to his sense of fulfilment.

'Two girls now - so there will be pink all over the house, dresses and everything,' he smiled.

'It is good. It was a bit of a shame I had to come away right away for pre-season because I was only with them for about two days.

'You have to take care of your family and coming away some times can be difficult.

'You miss your kids and you want to get back them. As soon as they are born you want to be with them.'

But business is business. And with Celtic's opening Champions League qualifier against Alashkert of Armenia looming large next Tuesday, family time will have to be put on hold.

The scorer of four goals in the qualifiers last year, the importance of a fully-focused Scott Sinclair to his manager cannot possibly be understated.

'That starts the season off for us and for me personally,' he said.

'If you can have a good run in that and make sure we get into the Champions League, then that starts us off for the season ahead.

'I've scored a lot of big goals in the Champions League qualifiers and enjoy the big games.

'As players, that's the games you want to play in. It's going to be tough. I've only felt that kind of heat before beside the pool in Dubai!'

 

That looks promising

 

He's back

 

Aye looked sharp, lets hope his confidence is back

 

Well worked goal

 

@Notorious did you just post the same goal twice haha

 

Naw.

Because ones a gif the other isn’t.

 

Same goal but

 

Smart *.