People say that Scott is having a disastrous season but he has still scored 15 goals and had 12 assists

WHEN it comes to the form of his respective wingers this season, Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers offers a reasonable point.

Right-winger James Forrest has scored 12 goals for the season. Playing on the left flank, meanwhile, Scott Sinclair has managed three more.

Yet Forrest is already being lauded as an early contender for Scotland’s Player of the Year, while his colleague is odds on to surrender his crown.

Rodgers disputes the contention the Englishman is having a bad season. Utilising statistics as his sword, the Parkhead boss is stout in his defence of a player feeling the effects of 38 competitive games in the first half of the season.

‘Scotty has scored 15 goals and had 12 assists,’ said Rodgers. ‘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 who has been amazing — 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 and score goals. Is he doing that? Yes, he is.’

Sinclair’s individual issues are reflected in Celtic as a team. The standards of last season were unprecedented, the Parkhead side going through all 38 league games undefeated.

When the bar is set consistently high, the slightest slip can be exaggerated by rivals seeking signs of frailty.

The scourge of Rangers last season, Sinclair missed several glaring chances in the 0-0 derby draw at the end of December.

His confidence shot, his removal in the second half felt like an act of mercy. Yet, last season, the former Swansea and Manchester City man claimed 25 goals. Continue scoring at the same rate as the first six months of the current campaign and he will comfortably exceed that, further challenging the narrative of a poor season.

‘You can maybe ask if he’s being marked tighter, with the space blocked out a bit more,’ Rodgers acknowledged. ‘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 season last season in terms of numbers. But I expect him to do something similar this season.

‘But it’s different measures around players. But he’s contributed very importantly for us. He’s been fantastic.’

Unusually for a wide man, Sinclair’s productivity is measured by more than the quality of his crosses.

The ability to score goals at the rate of a centre-forward has created a noose around his neck. A stick to beat him with when he misses first-half chances against Rangers.

‘There aren’t many wingers who give you the end product Scotty gives the team,’ argued Rodgers. ‘You think of last season and then this season, it’s incredible really.

‘He’s 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 do know is, he always gives his best.

‘There are times when he will 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 — he can’t do any more.’

Like Sinclair, Celtic as a team are perceived to be weaker than they were last season. A level below where they were, the impact of three games a week was apparent during a hectic December.

Rodgers is confident the benefits of the winter break will begin to tell when they resume against Brechin City in the Scottish Cup next weekend.

Yet he argues it was always a tall order to maintain the standards of a season when his team racked up the first unbeaten league campaign in 120 years.

‘It’s impossible,’ he added. ‘I don’t think you can, that’s 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 the disappointment along the way but the players have been absolutely brilliant in terms of dealing with that.

‘No one can really imagine the pressure. When you play in the Champions League, it’s six big games but we also had qualifiers.

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