SCOTT SINCLAIR No one puts more pressure on me than myself
CELTIC winger Scott Sinclair has opened his heart on his struggle to maintain form amid Celtic’s gruelling fixture schedule. Manager Brendan Rodgers has launched a robust defence of the £3.5million man by pointing out that his 15 goals represents a greater tally than he had accrued this time last year. However, Scotland’s reigning player of the year admits he was running on empty before heading to Celtic’s winter training base in Dubai. He said: ‘Trust me, I am my own biggest critic. Whoever criticises me is coming nowhere near the level of attention I put on myself for my performances. ‘There have been some games where I have not been on form, at other times I have been pleased with my level.’ He added: ‘I’ve probably played more games in 2017 than in the previous four seasons. When you keep going like that for 57 games it takes its toll.’
THE chanters among the Celtic support still serenade Scott Sinclair with their bespoke version of Supertramp’s The Logical Song but lately life hasn’t quite felt quite so wonderful, beautiful or magical. Sinclair reflects on 2017 as being simultaneously the best and most exhausting year of his football career. The winger entered dreamland as he helped his team to an unbeaten Treble and swept the boards as team-mates, writers and fellow professionals lined up to crown him player of the year.
But there has been a physical price to pay for hauling around all those trinkets and trophies.
The stats may have held up — his total of 15 goals and 12 assists for the current season is actually an improvement on his numbers at this stage last year — but he acknowledges that his game has lacked the effervescence that made him an instant hit in the wake of his £3.5million transfer from Aston Villa.
Celtic’s schedule — overloaded by the Champions League qualification system — has been brutal. Sinclair looks jaded.
But he hopes and confidently predicts that the club’s retreat to Dubai is having a restorative effect on both his legs and his mind.
In a frank conversation with Sportsmail at the squad’s Middle Eastern base, he admits that the groans which meet a missed chance or misplaced cross are nothing compared to the internal scrutiny to which he subjects himself after every game.
He says: ‘I still feel the fans are right behind me. But, trust me, I am my own biggest critic. Whoever criticises me is coming nowhere near the level of attention I put on myself for my performances.
‘There have been some games where I have not been on form, at other times I have been pleased with my level.
‘If I miss chances or I go home without having scored then I think about it. I don’t need someone to lift me or tell me how it is — I do that for myself.
‘I just battle on and keep working hard. The manager doesn’t need to put an arm round my shoulder. I know myself what I must set out to do.’
The year fizzled out with an underwhelming 0-0 draw with Rangers and, having snatched at a couple of straightforward opportunities in front of Wes Foderingham’s goal, the 28-year-old had no complaints at being taken off with 20 minutes to go.
The scorer of four Old Firm goals in his debut season, the sight of Sinclair being substituted as Brendan Rodgers chased a derby breakthrough would have been unthinkable just a few months earlier, but he looked leg-weary as he trudged off to make way for Olivier Ntcham.
His 57 appearances in the calendar year represents a total just short of his combined tally at his previous three clubs — Villa, West Brom and Manchester City. A trade-off was perhaps inevitable.
‘It’s a lot considering how I did over the last five years,’ he sighs. ‘I’ve probably played more games in 2017 than in the previous four seasons.
‘It just goes to show — sometimes you set a level, you win player of the year and there is an expectation that you will be up there every single game.
‘But when you keep going like that for 57 games it takes its toll.’ Sinclair has previously spoken of his frustration at being a marked man but he has adjusted his game well enough to score more regularly while not at optimum form. ‘I look at how clinical I am in games, scoring and for assists,’ he explains. ‘That’s my job and this year the numbers add up more than last year. ‘The difference is that when I came in no one knew what to expect of me. I could show my game and that meant a lot of dribbling! I think the fans see me as an exciting player so when I get it they want me to dribble, beat my man, get a shot off or create something. ‘This year is slightly different because I’m getting the ball and I might have to play one-touch or two-touch. People are doubling up, defenders know that I’m coming inside and so I need to change my game a little bit. ‘I can’t dribble every single time and get into the sort of form I was in last season.’ Sinclair is not alone. Last term he was aided by having Kieran Tierney powering round