Tuesday, January 24, 2006

A crucial time for SWP.

It was reported in some newspapers and websites over the weekend that Liverpool were preparing to make a bid to loan the services of SWP from Chelsea for the remainder of the season.

It was cited as likely due to the fact that Jose Mourinho had recently stated he would not stand in the way of any unhappy player who wanted to leave (not that SWP has stated he is unsettled) and team mate Wayne Bridge moved on loan to Fulham last week, undoubtedly with the aim of safeguarding his England World Cup squad place.

A World Cup squad place is something that SWP himself must now be sweating on, given his less than illustrious start to this Chelsea career. Hark back to last season when he was the hero of the City crowd and earned plaudits left, right and centre. He broke into (and impressed in) the England side, and raised debate as to whether he should replace David Beckham on the right-hand side of Englands midfield.


Fast forward to the start of 2006 though and SWP is very much a peripheral figure in the current Chelsea side, seemingly behind Robben, Cole and Duff for a place in the side and so far has started only nine games (with a further sixteen substitute appearances), often being withdrawn after failing to make an impact on the game. To me this then translates into him trying too hard to impress and his performances have been very nervy looking without him playing with the freedom and confidence of last season and has struggled to fit into a more rigid 4-4-2 formation and system that Chelsea play.

However, it may not all be negative for SWP. Chelsea are now entering a crucial part of the season with games coming thick and fast with the resumption of the Champions League on top of FA Cup and league action. It is likely that he will feature more prominently for Chelsea between now and the end of the season.
It is also easy to forget that he it must take time for him to settle in a new environment and he has come into a squad which swept all before them last season. Take a look at Joe Cole, who struggled initially under Mourinho but is now a focal point of the side and has nailed down an England place as well.

As he offers something different to other potential England candidates I still think he will make the World Cup squad despite how the rest of the season pans out, but there is still plenty of time in the season left for someone like a Stuart Downing (or heaven forbid Kieran Richardson) to snatch a place ahead of him.

All in all though, it could be a crucial few months for SWP between now and the end of the season.

vote it up!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chelsea play 4321 not 442.

Anonymous said...

pedant

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a City site, whats this got to do with us? Unless he's coming back to Eastland's on loan, I couldnt give a rats arseole about this particular Wright-Phillips.

Anonymous said...

Liverpool will get nobody form Chelsea. well, they can borrow Maka's tripod for about 5m backs. Then, Carra can use the tripod, he needs it.

Anonymous said...

What are you smoking? Chelsea loan to Liverpool? There is no second Chelsea loan to anyone.

"Fast forward to the start of 2006 " clichet. If you want to be a writer first find a subject you know a little about.

Anonymous said...

'Cliche' hasn't got a 't' on the end. If you want to criticise writing, learn to spell.

Anonymous said...

It's often the last refuge of the ignorant to point out grammatical or spelling errors to delfect attention away from poor research. And to the last pendant... the word also has an acute accent over the "e". If you want to sound like a smart-arse, make sure you get all the facts in front of you.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Ole, but the English word 'cliche' does not have an acute accent. The original French word does, but this has been anglicised. In fact, no English words have an acute accent - it's not part of the English language.

Anonymous said...

what a sorry excuse of human beings you all are, moaning about spelling mistakes, or cliche's, typical chelscum fans, you think or like to think you are head & shouders above the rest due to your club being run by money hungey power thirsty aliens.

you dont know half of it!!

peace

Danny Pugsley said...

What I was trying to convey was that (in my opinon) SWP seems stifled in the system Chelsea play. Obviously they don't play 4-4-2 (apologies for the error), but if anything shouldn't a 4-3-2-1 suit him even more?

It is a City site, but I think a piece about any struggles SWP may be having since moving from City does have a City interest/angle to it?

I didn't break the story about a possible loan to Liverpool (or state that it would actually happen) - merely used a reported story to post an opinion about how he has fared so far at Chelsea, and also on his World Cup prospects.

Anonymous said...

Let's get back to the issue at hand though.....my favourite part of this talkback has been ole's reference to "the last pendant". Pure comic genius.

Anonymous said...

Never mind all this... What about Jim Tolmie? Great City player of the past and never gets the credit he deserves. What about a testimonial?