Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Why Craig Sibbald contract extension is Dundee United no-brainer

Sibbald is closing in on an appearance-based extra year on his Tannadice deal, boss Jim Goodwin revealed last week.

Craig Sibbald acknowledges the Dundee United fans.
Craig Sibbald acknowledges the Dundee United fans. Image: SNS

Amid an ultimately disappointing week for Dundee United – slipping five points adrift at the summit of the Championship with defeat against Raith Rovers – there was a sliver of solace.

The news that Craig Sibbald is likely to extend his stay at Tannadice until 2025, owing to an appearance-based extension clause, should be universally welcomed by the United faithful.

Barring injury or an inconceivable fall from favour, Sibbald – one of the first names on the team-sheet – will certainly play enough games to seal a new contract.

And should he help the Tangerines achieve promotion, Jim Goodwin will have a ready-made Premiership performer at his disposal.

Doing the dirty work

Although one of United’s less heralded captures of the 2022 summer transfer window, he proved to be the best by a considerable margin.

Craig Sibbald after finding the net against Arbroath
Sibbald, centre, started the season in fine form and scored against Arbroath. Image: SNS

Attempting to quell the tide at the heart of a dysfunctional Terrors side, he was arguably the club’s player of the year. Only Aziz Behich would provide serious competition. Steven Fletcher was passable but missed too many key chances.

His showings were even more laudable, given he was asked to play a more defensive role.

In the absence of a specialised combative midfielder, Sibbald found himself charged with breaking up opposition attacks – often with relatively little back-up.

Data provided by StatsBomb shows that Sibbald made more combined interceptions and tackles than ANY United player at 5.05 per game.

Craig Sibbald topped the United charts for tackles and interceptions last term.
Sibbald topped the United charts for tackles and interceptions last term. Image: Statsbomb

He registered the most defensive action regains (when one’s team wins possession within five seconds of the player making a defensive action) with 4.99 per game.

Only Arnaud Djoum averaged more pressures per game – a measurement of pressing – than Sibbald’s 17.54 per game, and the Cameroonian’s sample size was far smaller.

Sibbald can do the dirty work in the top-flight.

However, his ability to use the ball in the final third was overlooked.

He made two goal contributions – scoring once and claiming just one assist – and, as underlined below, NO United player made fewer open play passes into the opposition box. He averaged 0.10 per game.

A bar chart showing Craig Sibbald's failure to play passes into the box, largely due to his often deep starting position
A bar chart showing how rarely Sibbald played passes into the box. Image: StatsBomb

As a reference point, he averaged 0.72 per game in his final season with Livingston, only behind Nicky Devlin, Joel Nouble and Alan Forrest.

Finally showing attacking ability

Under Goodwin, Sibbald is starting to illustrate more attacking endeavour.

With the usual – and obvious – caveat that he is playing at a lower level, he has already scored three goals in 19 appearances and, particularly when Ross Docherty lines up alongside him, is a real threat on the ball.

That he cannot get a concerted run of games with Sibbald and Docherty playing alongside each other will be one of Goodwin’s major frustrations this campaign.

They have started just 11 of a possible 23 games together.

Nevertheless, Sibbald’s more attacking outlook has been underpinned by the same graft as last season. No player in the United side presses more, with the engine room dynamo making 18.64 pressures per match.

Showcased below, his pressures, tackles and interceptions, counterpressures, defensive actions, aggressive actions and counterpressure regains are all above league average.

A radar showing how Craig Sibbald compares with the Championship average in a number of combative metrics
A radar showing how Craig Sibbald compares with the Championship average in a number of combative metrics. Image: StatsBomb.

In his prime at 29, fitter than ever and now a quiet leader in the group – third in line to the captaincy – Sibbald will be a valuable member of Goodwin’s top-flight squad if United do seal a Premiership return.

Conversation