Sinclair vs Sterling
With Stewart Downing having packed his Anfield bags and joined Liverpool Mk II with Joe Cole and Andy Carroll at West Ham, attention turns to who Liverpool might bring in to replace him.
Whilst fans may be dreaming about the likes of Willian joining as the Reds potentially profit from Anzhi's financial crisis, the far more likely option is Scott Sinclair signing from Manchester City. The bookmakers have drastically cut their odds with regards to this transfer happening, and of course he worked with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers in his former life at Swansea City.
I personally hope that the Reds are NOT in the market for Sinclair, and here's why.
First, and foremost, he has stagnated during a wasted 2012/13 season at Manchester City. Sinclair made just twelve league appearances for the former champions, and didn't complete ninety minutes in any of them.
More importantly, a quick comparison of his Swansea stats (via Whoscored) from his excellent 2011/12 campaign with those of Liverpool's Raheem Sterling's breakthrough season shows that Scott Sinclair, on a per game basis:
- Created fewer chances: 0.8 to 1.5.
- Completed fewer successful dribbles: 1.7 to 1.9
- Made more turnovers of possession – 2.2 vs 1.8.
- Was caught offside slightly more often – 0.4 times per game to 0.3.
- Attempted fewer tackles (0.9 to 1.7) and only slightly more interceptions (0.8 to 0.6), meaning that Sinclair's total defensive contribution was therefore lower.
- Tried fewer passes (24.9 vs 29.9) with only slightly higher accuracy (86.2% to 84.5%).
- Converted a lower proportion of shots (excluding penalties): 4.2% vs 5.9%.
For the record, half of Sinclair's eight goals came from the penalty spot, which gave him figures of four goals from ninety-five shots otherwise. Raheem Sterling scored two of his thirty-four efforts.
As he’s not significantly better than Sterling, or even as good as him based on these numbers, I can’t really see the point in Liverpool buying him. Move along, Scott, and move on to better targets please Liverpool. Related articles you might like:
Graduating With Honours - A look at the impressive stats that Liverpool's young players posted in 2012/13.
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