BRENDAN RODGERS overlooked Scott Sinclair when he gave Odsonne Edouard the nod to come off the substitutes’ bench at Ibrox on Sunday.
The Frenchman responded magnificently by launching the winner behind Wes Foderingham after only 100 seconds on the pitch.
Sinclair might have felt out in the cold as 10-man Celtic celebrated the 3-2 triumph, but his former Swansea team-mate Stephen Dobbie insisted the 28-year-old flair player will come roaring back to last season’s form during the run-in to this campaign.
He said: “Sometimes things don’t go the way you want them to go, but Scotty is too good a player to let it affect him for too long.
“He always works hard in training, so I’m sure if he bides his time he will bounce back.
“You just need to look at how his career has gone. He’s done really well at times, but he’s suffered one or two setbacks.
“More often than not, he comes back stronger than ever.
“It’s tough for him just now, but I’ve got no doubt he’ll get himself back in the team and show everyone why he was Player of the Year last season.”
Dobbie, now with Queen of the South, watched Sinclair come up with the answers when joined Swansea in 2010 after failing to make the breakthrough at Chelsea, where he was first coached by Rodgers.
He said: “Scotty was brilliant at Swans. He came to us after things maybe didn’t work out for him at Stamford Bridge, but he was absolutely superb.
“It was no surprise when Manchester City spent about £10million on him. Things might not have worked out for him there, but there was a lot of competition and they were spending big money on players.
“You can’t doubt Scotty’s quality. His best asset is his dribbling, he’s great at getting up and down the wing. He is brilliant at creating opportunities and his goal return from out wide has been top class over the years.
“People might say he’s not been up to last term’s standards, but just look at the amount of goals and assists he has this year. It’s still well up there.”
Dobbie is adamant Rodgers is the ideal man to get 18-goal Sinclair back on track as the Hoops zero in on a historic double treble.
He added: “Brendan knows better than anyone how to get the best out of Scotty. It would have been tough for him to sit on the bench in the games against Zenit and then miss out on the Rangers game.
“But those decisions will have had nothing to do with his ability. It will have been down to how Brendan saw those games tactically.
“It doesn’t matter if you were Player of the Year or whatever, he’ll pick the team he thinks can do the job and, more often than not, he gets it spot on.
“Celtic won at Ibrox on Sunday and the changes he made during the game got the job done.
“It would have been hard on Scotty but he’ll be delighted with the result. He’ll keep his head down and keep working on the basics and he’ll be back to his best soon.”
Read more from Celtic Quick News …
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- ‘JOZO’S ACTIONS STUPID,’ HOOPS LEGEND
- THOMSON FOR CELTS
- ‘MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR CARSON,’ BOSS
- ‘BRENDAN IS NOT A GENIUS – HE’S JUST A VERY LUCKY BHOY’
- ‘SCOTT CAN PLAY IN ANY GAME FOR CELTIC,’ INSISTS RODGERS
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