Scott Sinclair - now gone

[brontebilly]

All this should have been picked up when on loan, why wait to sign him on a perm before realising we have a donkey.  Another one not good enough.  Hard isn't it to wake up and realise the reality of the situation. 

Sinclair struggled to get into the team towards the end of last season, was he really the manager's signing?

Don't think Sherwood wanted him to be fair, didn't we sign him on loan initially but on the basis if he made a certain amount of appearances the deal would be made permanent?

He simply does not want the ball with his back to goal, gutless in the extreme.

[Clampy]

All this should have been picked up when on loan, why wait to sign him on a perm before realising we have a donkey.  Another one not good enough.  Hard isn't it to wake up and realise the reality of the situation. 

Sinclair struggled to get into the team towards the end of last season, was he really the manager's signing?

Don't think Sherwood wanted him to be fair, didn't we sign him on loan initially but on the basis if he made a certain amount of appearances the deal would be made permanent?

He simply does not want the ball with his back to goal, gutless in the extreme.

A winger who doesn't want the ball with his back to goal is gutless? Wow, that wins silly post of the day.

[Risso]

All this should have been picked up when on loan, why wait to sign him on a perm before realising we have a donkey.  Another one not good enough.  Hard isn't it to wake up and realise the reality of the situation. 

Sinclair struggled to get into the team towards the end of last season, was he really the manager's signing?

Don't think Sherwood wanted him to be fair, didn't we sign him on loan initially but on the basis if he made a certain amount of appearances the deal would be made permanent?

He simply does not want the ball with his back to goal, gutless in the extreme.

I think the deal was contingent on us staying up wasn't it?

[Dave]

All this should have been picked up when on loan, why wait to sign him on a perm before realising we have a donkey.  Another one not good enough.  Hard isn't it to wake up and realise the reality of the situation. 

Sinclair struggled to get into the team towards the end of last season, was he really the manager's signing?

Don't think Sherwood wanted him to be fair, didn't we sign him on loan initially but on the basis if he made a certain amount of appearances the deal would be made permanent?

He simply does not want the ball with his back to goal, gutless in the extreme.

I think the deal was contingent on us staying up wasn't it?

Yup, agreed by all parties back in January.

[PeterWithesShin]

He's scored 8 in 15 starts and 6 sub appearances. Not bad for someone who is shit/a donkey, isn't a striker and cost £2.5m.

[Dave]

He's scored 8 in 15 starts and 6 sub appearances. Not bad for someone who is shit/a donkey, isn't a striker and cost £2.5m.

Or, to put it another way - all the games that we've played since summer 2012 (and there have been around 150 of them) he is our fourth highest goalscorer across that time. Even though he has only played in around 20 of those matches.

[Ian.]

I like Sinclair, but like so many of our players we don not seem to be playing to their streghths.

Going back to when we appointed Tim he kind of belittled Lambert for not playing to Benteke's strengths (OK, he had a point) but now we seem to be doing this regularly with our squad. Ayew on the wing, Jack out wide, Sanchez centre back, Clark midfield and a new low of Hutton as a wingback. Also what has Kozak done wrong? The bloke knows where the back of the net is.

[Risso]

I like Sinclair, but like so many of our players we don not seem to be playing to their streghths.

Going back to when we appointed Tim he kind of belittled Lambert for not playing to Benteke's strengths (OK, he had a point) but now we seem to be doing this regularly with our squad. Ayew on the wing, Jack out wide, Sanchez centre back, Clark midfield and a new low of Hutton as a wingback. Also what has Kozak done wrong? The bloke knows where the back of the net is.

"I'll show that Rodgers not playing to Benteke's strengths, I can play to NONE of my players'!"

[passitsideways]

Just don't play him and Gestede at the same time. It's worth carrying one of them because they're both goal threats in different ways and we're rather lacking those kinds of players elsewhere at this moment, but both of them puts far too much pressure on everyone else to create chances.

As for the posts saying he shouldn't play out left because he can't really beat a man and put in a decent cross, I'd say that that's just being too enamoured with the classic conception of a wide player, when these days plenty of players at teams far better than us get game time out wide solely because they're quick, work hard and have goal-scoring ability: players like Jay Rodriguez, Chadli and Walcott (even though he's getting more time through the middle now).

[Mister E]

Just don't play him and Gestede at the same time. It's worth carrying one of them because they're both goal threats in different ways and we're rather lacking those kinds of players elsewhere at this moment, but both of them puts far too much pressure on everyone else to create chances.

As for the posts saying he shouldn't play out left because he can't really beat a man and put in a decent cross, I'd say that that's just being too enamoured with the classic conception of a wide player, when these days plenty of players at teams far better than us get game time out wide solely because they're quick, work hard and have goal-scoring ability: players like Jay Rodriguez, Chadli and Walcott (even though he's getting more time through the middle now).

Agreed.
Sinclair obviously has ability - the manager needs to find ways to bring it out regularly.
He's not a player I particularly like, but I'm sure he can be effective for, played appropriately (probably as a bring-on sub).

[Vegas]

He was dire on Saturday, and I don't think you can blame that entirely on tactics. Several times he had the ball at his feet, facing forwards of all things, and didn't seem to know what to do. 

I still rate him vs our other options and would have him in the squad and probably the team.

More generally I'm still not sure I'm quite in the camp of "decent players, bad manager". Patience is wearing thin with Sherwood but I don't think our squad is good enough, and that's not (or at least, not mostly) Sherwood's fault.

[brian green]

I get the distinct impression that Sherwood has completely ruled the roost on who he wanted to bring to the club. I think we came within a hairsbreadth of having Adebayor on full wages and living a hundred miles from the club. To me the picture is crystal clear. We have players of proven ability performing way below their potential.

[Vegas]

Who of the team that played on Saturday is playing below their proven level though?

I thought Richards was mainly good, and Gil was good when he came on.
The rest were poor to average. But which of them are proven?

Amavi - not great on Sat, but unproven
Lescott - proven, but now 33 or whatever
Crespo - unproven
Hutton - was OK, which is his proven level
Westwood - was mediocre, but that is his proven level
Gana - unproven (I though he was pretty good in the first half tbh)
Veretout - unproven
Sinclair - maybe, but only one really good season
Gestede - unproven


I'm not making the argument that Sat was good or that Sherwood is blameless (the formation was baffling), but I don't think it's true to say we have players performing below their proven levels - with one or two exceptions, we just have an unproven squad, and the truth might well be they collectively just aren't that good.

[SamTheMouse]

I think Sinclair is like the other players. He's not performing because he doesn't really know what he's meant to be doing, and is being played in a stupid formation.

In his case, he's miles up front on his own with only Gestede for company. He can't play short passing interchanges with Gestede, who has the close control of a newborn giraffe, and he doesn't have the strength to hold it up himself, so his only option is to run down a blind alley.

[aj2k77]

I think Sam is right, Sinclair doesn't know what he is doing. As far as I know Sinclair has never been a second striker during the rest of his career, what makes people think he's going to become one now?