SOME people might suggest Scott Sinclair has lost form this season. The way he looks at it, he has merely gained a friend. If last season’s Scottish player of the year hasn’t cut a swathe through teams quite in the manner he did during his maiden season the Englishman puts most of that down to the fact so many teams sacrifice a player to shadow him these days, or at least insist upon doubling up on him whenever he picks the ball up out wide. While it would be prudent to expect another big game contribution from the player at Hampden Park today, it should also be pointed out the attention he gathers frees up space for other players, and that his 11 goals in all competitions is the kind of form dip most players would give their back teeth for.

“People can talk to me about having lost my form but it’s not the case,” said Sinclair. “I still feel my form is there - I just feel like I have two players on me in every game.

“That wasn’t happening last season,” he added. “I’m getting a player standing next to me for the whole game doing nothing. They are making it much harder for me to get on the ball. So I’ve got to come up with different things to go forward, create and score goals. And I’ve been doing so. The stats are still not too bad but it’s up to me to make more happen. But if I have two on me then there is always going to be one spare man which is great for us.”

Freeing yourself from a man marker, or finding ways to influence the match despite one, is a crucial piece of knowhow for any wannabe top talent. Think Diego Maradona eschewing his slaloming runs of earlier in the tournament to influence the 1986 World Cup final by playing the likes of Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga in instead, or how players can simply take their marker for a walk, bursting a team’s defensive shape and leaving space for his team-mates to capitalise upon. Remaining patient enough to jump on whatever openings come your way is something Sinclair feels he still has to work on.

“I come away from the game and talk to my friends and talk about how the defender literally goes everywhere with me,” Sinclair said. “I mean, I could go right-back and he’d follow me. But I’m always focused and there will always be one moment. He might man-mark me for 89minutes and then I’ll get away from him and get the goal. Some players try to psyche you out but there will always be a moment. Look at the St Johnstone game. They were man-marking me and then the corner came in from Stuey [Armstrong] and I made my mark.

“For me it is about trying to keep coming up with different things in my game – what can I do to get away from my man? What decisions do I make? How do I come to get the ball deep or do I go long? Game by game I look over at all the videos and work at it.”

With the benefit of hindsight, Wednesday night in Paris might not have been the worst match to miss out on. But Sinclair has been so central to everything Rodgers has achieved thus far that his omission for such a big game did still speak to a player not quite at full tilt thus far this season. It helped his manager sugar coat things, however, for he and Stuart Armstrong that he had today’s BetFred Cup final to use as consolation. The additional pace and power offered by those two will be difficult for Motherwell to deal with.

“The manager pulled me the day before the game in midweek and said ‘Look, I’m going to keep you out of this one’,” he added. “Obviously you want to play in the Champions League, or in any game for that matter.

“But when the manager makes a decision you just have to accept it. Throughout my career there have been things I’ve had to deal with I’ve just had to deal with it and make sure I am back ready to go again.

“I’d say they were better than Barcelona. The way they attack with so much pace, and the finishing was so clinical - every time they shot it hit the back of the net.”

Sinclair ended up with a winners’ medal from this competition last season by dint of his performances in previous rounds, but laid low with an injury sustained against Barcelona, he would rather be on the field to make a serious contribution this time.

“I went to the game but to miss a final, you’re devastated,” he said. “It would have been my first Cup Final with the club as well but that’s behind me now and I’m just looking forward to this one.

“I managed to get a medal. When you play every game leading up to the final, you feel part of the victory and I think you deserve the medal, even if you miss the final. So the manager pulled me afterwards and gave me a medal. But I’ll feel like I earned one more this year if I play and we can win, though. It’s different when you start a game and win it.”

It would be wrong to capitalise Motherwell a bunch of playground bullies but, packed with big, eager, quick, strapping players, their successful brand of football is far more earthy than that of the Parkhead side. An added peculiarity to the match-up, particularly when you consider the multiple meetings between Celtic and Aberdeen last season, is the fact these two Northern Irishmen and their teams haven’t met yet this season.

“We’ve not had that conversation [the physical qualities of Motherwell] as a team talk this week yet, but the manager has mentioned it before now and again when we’ve played them. They’re a physical side, but we’ll be expecting it. That won’t stop us. When teams are physical against us I’m sure we can match that. We have confidence in the team and as much hunger as them so if they do that we will match them. Because we haven’t played them so far this season they are a bit of an unknown quality but deep down we know it is going to be a very difficult game.”

Having been signed by Rodgers when Chelsea youth coach shortly after his debut for Bristol Rovers at the age of 15, Sinclair is as good a witness as any when it comes to what makes Brendan Rodgers tick. The Northern Irishman has said previously that he takes more personal satisfaction from seeing players develop rather than winning trophies – that being the case he makes a pretty fair habit of winning things. Not only are Celtic in the midst of a 64-match winning run, they hope on Sunday to be the first Scottish team to win four consecutive domestic titles since Alex McLeish’s Rangers side in 2003.

“When he says that he genuinely believes in what he is saying,” said Sinclair. “Just look at the amount of young players just now who have played games from last year, that is what he wants. He is not only a manager, he is a coach, he wants you to improve as a player and do well. Deep down you still want to win trophies. If you can win trophies and develop players too then that is ideal.”

So was Wednesday night a blow to the club’s morale, or would it actually only heighten the club’s desire to get back to winning ways at Hampden? “I don’t think Motherwell should be more worried,” says Sinclair honestly. “I think they would have been concerned no matter what the score was.”